Javier Bardem Looks Back At His Own “Great Disaster”
Stars usually talk about their triumphs. Every now and then one of them leans into a miss. Javier Bardem did exactly that while reflecting on a rough patch from nearly a decade ago. He spoke with an easy calm and even some humor about the kind of career stumble most actors prefer to forget.
The setting was a celebration of the Cannes Film Festival. The mood, at least when this story came up, was not defensive. Bardem seemed almost grateful for the memory. He described the value of being reminded that big festivals can be unforgiving and that the work does not always land the way artists hope.
Then he named the film. It was Sean Penn’s ‘The Last Face,’ the 2016 romance set against humanitarian crises in West Africa. Bardem did not sugarcoat how it went over with audiences on the Croisette. “It was a disaster!” he said. He even cracked a smile as he added, “But, let me tell you, it was a great disaster.”
He did not stop there. Bardem explained why the bruising reception mattered to him. “It’s good to come to a festival like Cannes and be booed and be reminded that what we do can be horrific because otherwise, we think of ourselves too highly. I have my own idea about what that movie was.” The honesty landed because it sounded like perspective earned the hard way.
Anyone who followed that premiere remembers the silence and the headlines. Bardem captured the feeling in the room with a stark image. He said the opening that day “was like a funeral.” He was not bitter about it. He said he actually laughed. “But I was laughing. I was like, ‘Yes — this is what it is to make movies.’ Sometimes you do ‘No Country for Old Men,’ sometimes you do [a film like] this one, and it is not important whether it’s great or bad. You keep on doing what you need to do. I mean, it’s like life.”
The aftermath for ‘The Last Face’ was rough. After a minimal release in 2017, the film could not find an audience. For Bardem, the experience became a lesson in humility and resilience rather than a scar to hide. He pointed out how easy it is to get caught up in the glow of festivals and box office and how useful it can be to face the opposite. He said the effort behind the project was real, that people worked hard, and that sometimes the result is still a miss.
That is why his “great disaster” line resonates. It is not a dismissal of ‘The Last Face.’ It is a reminder that even acclaimed careers include films that do not connect. Bardem’s takeaway was simple enough to stick. You make the next thing. You learn from the stumble. You carry on with a little more humor and a little less ego.