Javier Bardem Quotes

Sometimes I say to myself, what are you doing in this absurd job? Why don't you go to Africa and help people? But I cannot help people, because I am a hypochondriac.

And the whole Oscar thing, that is just surreal: you spend months and months doing promotion, and then come back to reality with this golden thing in your hands. You put it in the office and then you just have to look at it sitting on the shelf. And, after about two weeks, you go: 'What is that doing there?'

I've always said I don't believe in God, I believe in Al Pacino.

I live in Spain. Oscars are something that are on TV Sunday night. Basically, very late at night. You don't watch, you just read the news after who won or who lost.

You shall love. Whether you like it or not.

I do respect people's faith, but I don't respect their manipulation of that faith in order to create fear and control.

You don't need a man, you need a champion.

I'm a great believer in stunt doubles. They do an amazing job.

I enjoy my job as long as I can create a character, otherwise it's boring.

I want to act because I don't know how to do anything else.

The bad news is that only the bad people reach the news because they are noisier.

Only unfulfilled love can be romantic

I've always said that playing rugby in Spain is like being a bullfighter in Japan.

Age has no reality except in the physical world. The essence of a human being is resistant to the passage of time.

A part of being an actor is I people watch. I like to observe their behaviour, watch their reactions on the street and see how they talk to each other, and that's impossible when they are looking back at you. I used to enjoy taking the train and watching people in their own minds, struggling with themselves.

I will work with a director who has good material because at the end of the day, that's what counts.

An award doesn't necessarily make you a better actor.

Awards were made in Hollywood, in whatever the time it was created. They're to promote each other's movies. You give me an award, I give you an award and people will believe that we are great movies and they'll go to see them. It's still the same.

The award is important in order to bring people to the movie theater. That's the only principle meaning of any award.

I look in the mirror and I don't see a sex symbol. I just see a guy who looks like he's been beaten with a baseball bat. I mean, is this the face of a sex symbol? They say that because I work in the movies.

The middle and working classes are paying the debt that the financial markets created.

I truly don't have any formula for the choices I make.

I think the most difficult love begins with one's self. How you treat yourself is something you bring to your relationships.

Now, there are so many movies, so many festivals, and so many awards going on, each judged with each other, like your work is worse than others and that's not fair. How can you tell what's best and what's worst from these awards? We're talking about art.

But don't call me an actor. I'm just a worker. I am an entertainer. Don't say that what I am doing is art.

I look at myself, and I see a Spanish person who's trying to be understood by an English-speaking audience and is putting a lot of energy into that, instead of into expressing himself freely and feeling comfortable.

I'm a huge fan of the director, Alejandro González Iñárritu, and his work, and I knew he was going to be an amazing actor's director, based on the performances that I saw in his movies.

We live in a world of denial, and we don't know what the truth is anymore.

I think we are living in selfish times. I'm the first one to say that I'm the most selfish. We live in the so-called 'first world,' and we may be first in a lot of things like technology, but we are behind in empathy.

I hate violence. When I hold a gun, I feel death in my hands, but it's fun to pretend in the movies.

I can't imagine what it would be like being James Bond 24 hours. That must be exhausting.

We live in the moment now where this whole movie business is crazy.

The only thing I can do is act, but it's not something I even feel comfortable doing. It costs me a lot, because I'm a shy person, even if I don't look it.

Even in the darkest regions, people have discovered their right of freedom.

[That night] I was sitting by Jack Nicholson with my long list of thanks, and I said, `I'm so nervous. I don't know what to say if I go up there.' He said, `Don't get emotional, drop the names, and dedicate it to your mother.'

Every time I wake up, I see myself like somebody beat me up.

When I see myself at 14 years old I can put my hands on my head and think: 'How could I have done that?' but at that time it had sense for me. You do the same when you're 20. And now, when you look at people who are 20 years old you ask yourself: 'Was I like that? Was I really like that?'

I'm getting so old - it's more uncomfortable to do those scenes now than when I was 20. I mean, I don't have a big problem with nudity on screen. But usually the days when you do those naked love scenes are the weirdest ones on set. Everyone is uncomfortable. You're like, 'Hi. How are you?' Then the next minute you're with an actress who you don't know and you're pretending to make love to her in front of all the crew. The acting challenge is pretending things are OK.

I used to be a good party boy. I'm old. I'm an old man. You pay the consequences. I'm just fine with a couple of drinks, no more than that.

My truth - what I believe - is that there are no answers here and, if you are looking for answers, you'd better choose the question carefully.

I was raised not to be afraid to show emotion or imagination.

I don't know how to drive a car. The only thing I can do is act, but it's not something I even feel comfortable doing.

I have this problem with violence. I've only done one movie in almost 20 years where I killed people. It's called Perdita Durango. It's a Spanish movie. I'm very proud of the movie, but I felt weird doing that.

I've played people that are on the line of evil and good, but that's life. We are always playing with the good and the bad. I see them as people. I don't see them as caricatures. I try to not make them caricatures. Maybe I fail, but I try to see what' behind them. Would I play the hero? A superhero? I don't think so. But, I play good guys. There are some there, but you have to look.

People have been born in refugee camps and they are getting tired of that.

We actors always say how difficult and physically demanding a role was. But give me a break, it's only a movie.

I retired from rugby because I was old and getting really slow.

I don't really care where movies come from as long as they're worth making.

When I was born, there was a very isolated idea of what it meant to be a man or a woman, and you belonged to one gender or the other.

I am always saying, 'I don't believe in God; I believe in Al Pacino.' And that's true. If I ever get a phone call saying 'Would you like to work with Al Pacino?' I would go crazy.