Penélope Cruz says she and Javier Bardem limit their collaborations to protect their marriage, calling the prospect of working together too often “too risky.”
The actress discussed their approach Oct. 10 at Deadline’s Contenders Film: London, where she joined writer-director Florian Zeller to discuss Bunker. The psychological thriller casts the real-life couple as spouses confronting a crisis.
Cruz and Bardem first appeared together in 1992’s Jamón Jamón, began dating in 2007 and married in 2010. They have two children.
Their subsequent collaborations have included Vicky Cristina Barcelona, The Counselor, Loving Pablo and Everybody Knows.
Zeller’s Approach Helped Them Say Yes
Zeller had written the film specifically for Cruz and Bardem, who already admired his work. Cruz said they read the script and spoke with him before deciding they could not find a compelling reason to decline.
“We knew that Florian was never going to manipulate anything or try to force anything from our real relationship into the movie,” she said.
Cruz Felt Uneasy Before Filming the Argument
About a week before filming the movie’s major confrontation, Cruz began feeling strange. She initially resisted the idea that the approaching scene was responsible.
She had assumed that she and Bardem had enough experience to keep a fictional marital argument from affecting them.
The sequence took three days to film and lasts almost 11 minutes. Zeller described it as the movie’s emotional core: Cruz’s character finally puts into words the crisis that has been developing within the marriage.
Cruz Learned to Leave Her Characters Behind During the Day
In a separate September interview with TheWrap at the Toronto International Film Festival, Cruz explained how her preparation has changed. When she was younger, she sometimes remained in character for weeks or months, an approach she eventually found damaging to both her performances and her life.
She credited Argentinian acting teacher and theater director Juan Carlos Corazza with teaching her to enter and leave a role within the same day, sometimes within an hour. Learning to trust those transitions helped her work while protecting her mental health, she said.
Bardem described the boundary he wanted when a take ended: “So when they say cut, we leave it there, and we become who we are.”
He also credited Zeller with guiding them back toward the fictional story when the emotions became intense. Cruz said she felt relieved when the confrontation was finished because she knew the film depended on that scene succeeding.
‘Everybody Knows’ Required Three Weeks of Rehearsal
For their 2018 collaboration Everybody Knows, director Asghar Farhadi had given them a different preparation process. During three weeks of rehearsals, he placed the actors in situations outside the screenplay so they could establish how their characters would respond.
In an earlier interview with the same outlet, Bardem explained that their roles required an invented shared history. Cruz played a mother searching for her missing daughter, with Bardem as an old flame drawn into the search. “You have to clear the slate,” he said.
‘Bunker’ Divides a Marriage Over a Billionaire’s Project
In Bunker, Bardem plays Miguel, a London architect offered a commission to build a survivalist shelter for a tech billionaire. His wife, Sofia, a book editor played by Cruz, begins questioning their 17-year relationship as the project draws them into a world of extreme wealth and fear. Paul Dano plays the billionaire, while Stephen Graham appears as a neighbor.
Sony Pictures Classics has scheduled an awards-qualifying run in New York and Los Angeles beginning Dec. 11, followed by a nationwide release Jan. 15, 2027, according to the studio announcement published by BroadwayWorld.