After his much-discussed appearance on Kendrick Lamar’s new album DAMN., Bono has been back in the spotlight lately — or at least on the radar of millennials who might not know as much about U2’s greatest albums as, say, our esteemed rock critic Steven Hyden. Anyway, today Javier Bardem covered the latest issue of Esquire magazine, and Bono came up yet again! Turns out he’s BFFs with Bardem, and the two often hang out together. In fact, Bono even gave a long quote for the story detailing his immense affection and respect for Bardem:
“I’ve been such a fan of Javier’s since Jamón, Jamón; I became his friend in the ‘00s,” Bono told Esquire. “He’d come to U2 shows, scare our audience with his air guitar, then steal the hearts of our womenfolk. Penélope [Cruz, Bardem’s wife] is a friend — of course I had to make sure this man I so admired onscreen was up to scratch to date the Bad Penny, as she’s known in Ireland. He came through that drink-off with flying colors, and at the end of the night I asked him to marry me. Such a macho guy needs a feminine side to be such a great actor — in touch with his feelings and all that. If you doubt me, check out the J-Man in a feather boa at U2’s 2015 show in Barcelona. There is a serious side ot this man. He despises injustice and became a (RED) campaign warrior not just because we were paying for drugs for people who couldn’t afford them but because such inequality angered him. In that sense he has very Spanish value — I think hew as brought up to be annoyed at such things. He’s built for combat.”
The whole piece kicks off with Bardem and the interviewer’s botched plan to go see the deathcore band, Born Of Osiris, and when that fails, Bardem whips out a picture of himself alongside — or rather, tightly hugging — AC/DC’s Angus Young. It turns out Bardem is obsessed with music, and cites AC/DC as one of the bands that helped him learn English, which is a pretty incredible way to get this language down.
The profile is a delightfully personal look at Bardem’s legacy as a Spanish actor who has busted out of the stereotype those men are often relegated to, and as a huge fan of No Country For Old Men it’s nice to know that he is such a lover of music! Read the whole thing here.
