Javier Bardem confesses he's a movie fanboy just like the rest of us
— -- It should be no surprise to know that when Javier Bardem walks into a room, all eyes are on him. But Bardem confessed to being starstruck at times. It happened recently after he joined the cast of "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales."
"I'm a moviegoer. I love movies," Bardem said in an appearance this week on ABC News' "Popcorn With Peter Travers." "And as a moviegoer, I've watched 'Pirates of the Caribbean' movies all the time, and also a lot of Johnny Depp's performances. And I think what he did with Jack Sparrow is iconic. So when he would become him in front of my eyes, me as a moviegoer would forget about me playing the character and be like, 'Yeah, I love it!' In front of your eyes, something is happening. The miracle is happening."
Bardem is the newbie in the "Pirates" family, taking on the role of the villain in the fifth installment of the franchise. And somehow the amazing makeup crew for the film managed to make his handsome face transform into one of the ugliest you've ever seen.
"They were throwing me these ideas, concepts of how I would look," Bardem said. "I thought it was very fantastic. It was a big leap of faith. Because drawings were one thing. But I didn't know what it was going to look like on screen. And when I saw the final look, I was blown away by the quality of it. It is really groundbreaking CGI."
Download the all new "Popcorn With Peter Travers" podcasts on Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music and Stitcher.
Bardem plays the role of Captain Salazar.
"We go back in time to where Salazar was master and commander of the Spanish Navy," Bardem, 48, told Travers. "He wants to get rid of every pirate for personal reasons. And then this young Jack Sparrow creates this curse on him and betrays him in a way. And then this character becomes this monster of rage and pain."
And monsters take time to create. Bardem described the process.
"It's bad. They put glue on your face like if there was a big cow licking on your face," Bardem joked. "And then they put this, as I call it, chicken breasts all around your body. It's like going to a Halloween party, but for four months, every day."
And in a first on "Popcorn," Bardem wrapped the interview by whale singing. Apparently that's a thing.
Be sure to watch the full interview in the video above to see Bardem hilariously describe another of his big fanboy moments and watch him rock out to a bit of AC/DC. "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales" hits theaters everywhere today.
