Javier Bardem: One Serious Spaniard

If you are female and reading this, no doubt you saw Eat Pray Love over the weekend. Here is my cover story and interview with the film's star Javier Bardem for  Celebrated Living, American Airlines inflight magazine. Besides the fact he is an incredible actor (he won the Best Actor prize recently at the Cannes Film Festival for his role in Biuteful), he comes from a long line of actors in Spain. I also found it interesting the first time he met Julia Roberts (his leading lady in EPL) was in Bali. And the fact he does not drive a car....you can find this and other tidbits here. Enjoy!

You can also read my review of the film on The Huffington Post.

Photo Credits: Celebrated Living

Eat, Pray, Love = Italy, India, Bali

The phrase highly anticipated has become synonymous for fans of Elizabeth Gilbert's runaway international best seller-soon-to-be-movie Eat, Pray Love (Sony Pictures). Opening in theaters August l3th, EPL follows the real-life journey of journalist Gilbert who flees New York after a grueling divorce and embarks on a year long journey of self discovery and love. First stop is Italy where she learns the language,  expands her waistline and finds the ultimate pizza in Naples.  Next, she learns to quiet her mind in a sacred ashram in India, spending numerous hours in meditation. Her last stop in Bali finds the celebrated author her true love. And the cast alone will be worth the price of admission -- Gilbert will be played by Julia Roberts, while Javier Bardem (Felipe) and James Franco (David) play the love interests.

I caught up with Gilbert this past spring who was still trying to catch her breath from the heady ride of the EPL phenomena. She felt the filmmakers completely "got it right" in portraying her story as the film has a lovely sweet energy around the book." She explains that "Life is very surreal right now -- I am on a 'surreality' overdose! Maybe when I am in my eighties I will put it all in perspective." Life today finds her happily married, living in New Jersey and spending most of her time gardening, "which is now a metaphor for my life." While the year long journey was certainly life-changing, she is more interested in staying home as there is "something exotic about it." 

Gilbert also confided that Javier completely nailed the performance as Felipe. The Oscar winning actor and her real-life husband spent an evening together in New York and "hit it off from the start," she says. "Javier has a warmth and affection" that was needed for the role. "After watching the movie, it made me fall in love with him all over again!"


And speaking of the Spanish heart throb, I will post my interview and cover story with Javier (and more on the film)  in two weeks. Stay tuned!

Shot on location in Manhattan, Rome, Naples, Delhi, and Bali, the film will be a travelogue of eye-candy, sights, food (styled by Julie & Julia foodie Susan Spungen) and adventure. Directed by Ryan Murphy (from Glee and Nip/Tuck), the film was designed by production designer Bill Groom and set decorators Andrew Baseman (of Nanny Diaries fame).

Bali

India

Italy

For more on the film, see the official website.

Photo Credits: Sony Pictures

Things to Look Forward to in 2010

Two of my favorite words are "Coming Soon." (And my other two would be independently wealthy...). I am hopeful that 2010 will bring more great moments at the movies. Here is a teaser of what is to come...

Eat, Pray, Love (August): Based on Elizabeth Gilbert's blockbuster novel, Julia Roberts plays the title role in the story of a divorced woman who finds herself through food in Italy, spirituality in India and love in Bali. Sounds good to me.



Sex and the City Part Two (May 28th): They're baaaack. I have heard all sorts of various plot lines (Mr. Big has an affair, Carrie gets pregnant, Samantha is broke, Sanford Blatch (and could there be a worse name?) and Anthony have a Connecticut wedding, etc. etc. etc.) and sure they have all been scrapped since the initial information was leaked. One thing is for sure -- the standard formula of love, angst, fashion, trends, great interiors and the Big Apple as a backdrop will remain the same. Perhaps the product placements of Manolo and Louis Vuitton will scale down to the Gap and Banana?





Salt (July): Angelina Jolie plays a woman on the run in this CIA thriller. The role sounds very much like a female Bourne Identity and should be good.



Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps (April 23rd): Perhaps the most anticipated film of the year, Wall Street 2 picks up with failed and jailed Master of the Universe Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) getting out of the Big House twenty years later and finding an economic world in disarray. Shia LaBeouf plays a young trader, Susan Sarandon is Gekko's wife and Carey Mulligan (of An Education fame) stars as his daughter. Will Gekko find his moral compass or will it be business as usual? Wall Street One portrayed NYC and the life of high finance and the Upper East Side perfectly....here's hoping for magic again.

LaBeouf and Douglas

When in Rome ( January): A young single art curator (Kristen Bell) and Josh Duhamel in love in Italy -- think Three Coins in the Fountain.



Valentine's Day (February): An all star cast, love and Valentine's Day theme - do the math!



Knight and Day (July): Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz pair up again (Vanilla Sky) in this romantic comedy/action film. Cruise plays a secret agent who has a blind date with Diaz and she gets entangled in his world.

Photo Credits: Twentieth Century Fox, Warner Brothers, Sony Pictures.