{"id":618353,"date":"2026-09-08T16:10:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T16:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/618353\/"},"modified":"2026-09-08T16:10:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T16:10:09","slug":"javier-bardem-penelope-cruz-tackle-politics-at-bunker-presser","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/618353\/","title":{"rendered":"Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz Tackle Politics at ‘Bunker’ Presser"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tNaturally, real-life couple Penelope Cruz<\/a> and Javier Bardem<\/a> were immediately quizzed on how much their marriage spilled into Florian Zeller<\/a>\u2018s Venice competition feature, Bunker, at the movie\u2019s press conference on Tuesday afternoon.<\/p>\n

\n\tAhead of the movie\u2019s red carpet premiere, Zeller, Bardem and Cruz were joined by co-stars Stephen Graham, Paul Dano and Patrick Schwarzenegger on the Lido to promote the film, following a renowned architect (Bardem) offered the chance to secretly design a survival bunker for a billionaire who is convinced that the end of the world is near. As he lets himself be seduced by this morally ambiguous project, his wife (Cruz) begins to question their marriage.<\/p>\n

\n\tZeller confessed he was inspired to write the screenplay after reading an article about Meta tech billionaire Mark Zuckerberg building an underground bunker in Hawaii. \u201cIt was a secret project, meaning that everyone involved in this project had to sign an NDA, to make sure no one would know,\u201d said the French filmmaker. \u201cFor some reason, the information went public, and I thought it was a fascinating paradox because this man who made a fortune based on the idea of connecting people together [through Facebook and Instagram], was working on a plan B to isolate himself from the rest of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tQuestions around isolation, human connection and morality drive Bunker, as does an authentic wife-and-husband performance from the Spanish A-listers. Zeller said he coaxed the pair on board the project because he \u201cadores\u201d them, but also because he needed that legitimacy. \u201cI think they are among the greatest actors working today, and so obviously it was an honor for me to work with them,\u201d he continued. \u201cBut I have to say that from the very beginning, I was also interested into in having them together on screen, because I thought it would be a unique way to capture something special as a real couple \u2014 to give layers to all the scenes of this film, to blur the line, of course, between reality and fiction, but to try to approach something that I\u2019m interested in, which is the burning authenticity of the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe added: \u201cTo do that for actors, you have to be very bold, you have to be very fearless and ambitious, and this is what they are, and that\u2019s why they are such great artists.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBardem, who is particularly outspoken on a slew of political issues, including his support of Palestine, was asked during the presser about actors being told to \u201cstay in your bunker, stay in your lane.\u201d How important does he think it is to tell stories \u201coutside of our own yard\u201d?<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Oscar-winning actor responded: \u201cWell, I think as an artist, you have a responsibility to make a story happen and to tell the story that the director, the author, wants. And then you, as an individual \u2014\u00a0it doesn\u2019t matter if you\u2019re an artist, an actor, a plumber, or a taxi driver \u2014\u00a0you have the right to expose your truth or what you think is important.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe continued: \u201cObviously, I have more resources to do it than a taxi driver because I have this thing [gesturing to microphone] and I have you guys listening to me. So, the responsibility is a different one, and that\u2019s what I think is important: to have a responsibility toward the world that we live in, and I don\u2019t take it for granted.\u201d He told the press conference that this movie speaks on those themes, especially \u201chow much we are willing to see, feel, welcome [each] other\u201d and \u201chow much we are going to isolate ourselves and criminalize and dehumanize each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tCruz and Bardem were both probed on starring in Oscar-worthy films this year, Bardem\u2019s The Beloved and Cruz\u2019s Olivia Wilde hit The Invite, and conceded they were proud to represent their country on an international<\/a> scale.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut the Spanish actress also talked about being a woman in the industry and feeling pulled to intriguing female characters when reading a screenplay: \u201cThis woman says precisely the things that I usually think, and so I really wanted to be able to express these things and these feelings in public. This is why I wanted to be a part of this film,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\n\tCruz added that sometimes women \u201care used as puppets, and this is very sad.\u201d She told the room: \u201cThere are few women who take very important decisions in the world, and I think this is a very sad reality. We are sort of manipulated, and I have to say that I\u2019m usually quite optimistic. [But] when it comes to the role of women in the world, I am slightly worried. However, I do think that younger generations are realizing our importance, and so they\u2019re starting to think this way, and they are opening their eyes. And maybe young people are more interested in politics now than they have ever been in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tGraham, Dano and Schwarzenegger weighed in on being a part of Zeller\u2019s project, gushing over the filmmaker and his script.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut the married Spaniards were the heroes of the presser, and even joked about arguing over their work: \u201cNo, no, never!\u201d replied Bardem, prompting laughs from the room. Cruz chimed in: \u201cI\u2019ve known you for more than 30 years\u2026 Imagine if we never argued!\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe 2026 Venice Film Festival<\/a> runs through Sept. 12.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Naturally, real-life couple Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem were immediately quizzed on how much their marriage spilled into…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":618354,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[321,93,257054,61,1042,60,19476,62494,802,259483],"class_list":["post-618353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-florian-zeller","tag-ie","tag-international","tag-ireland","tag-javier-bardem","tag-penelope-cruz","tag-venice-film-festival","tag-venice-film-festival-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=618353"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618353\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/618354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=618353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=618353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=618353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}