Daniel Craig and Javier Bardem had shared screen space in the acclaimed Bond movie Skyfall, where Bardem played the main antagonist.
Actor Javier Bardem has revealed that he once dressed in drag to celebrate “Skyfall” co-star Daniel Craig‘s birthday.
The two actors, who became close friends during the making of Sam Mendes’ 2012 James Bond movie, reunited for Variety’s Actors on Actors, presented by Amazon Studios. Bardem, 52, and Craig’s birthdays are a day apart in March (March 1 and March 2), so they decided to throw a joint birthday party together.
“I remember you were in drag, but I know that’s a whole other story,” Craig said.
“Coming out of a cake. I was supposed to be the Bond girl that night, and oh, my God, I was,” Bardem added.
Talking about Bardem’s latest role in Aaron Sorkin’s “Being the Ricardos”, Craig, 53, said he had no idea that the Oscar-winning actor could sing. “Well, apart from coming out of birthday cakes dressed like a Bond girl,” Bardem told Craig. “I sang ‘Happy Birthday to You’ in my best Marilyn Monroe impersonation. When (the ‘Being the Ricardos’ team) told me to sing, I was like, ‘Are you sure of that? Are you sure you want me singing?’ And then I tried.”
Craig had a minor cut on his forehead during the Zoom interview but seemed unaware before Bardem pointed it out.
“Let me ask you, my friend, this last question. What happened to you here,” Bardem said indicating to the injury. Craig wondered whether it was from a sandwich and went to find a mirror.
“You’re right. I cut my head!” the Bond star said.
“So they’ve sent me this wonderful ring flash, which I’ve set up with an iPad in the middle of it. And I went like this (he leans over), and it just fell on my head. Do you see how accident-prone I am? This is why I get f***ing injured every time I do a movie,” Craig said hinting at all the accidents he had in the course of playing James Bond in five films, from “Casino Royale” to last year’s “No Time to Die”.
The actors also spoke about balancing family and acting, which takes them away from home for months and sometimes a year. Bardem said despite the pandemic, he had one of the busiest years as he felt guilty about turning down a job when so many were facing work issues.
But having done three back-to-back films, he was not sure he wanted to repeat the experience.
” I enjoyed that, but it’s been exhausting. I can’t do that anymore, because of the family. In my nervous system I have two weeks, at most, to be apart from my family. After two weeks, I can’t operate,”Bardem said.
Craig agreed, saying it’s tough to do that.
“One of my things about doing Bond was always that struggle. They take such a long time to shoot. It’s a year, basically. And that makes it very hard. And of course you’re very committed to your job as all talented people are committed to their job. And there’s a certain amount that takes you away, and my 3-year-old, right now, does not understand. So if you have the opportunity and the luxury of doing it, you have to try and balance it,” he said.
