(Credits: Alamy)
If you ran into Javier Bardem in a dark alley, you’d think your number was up. The Spanish actor has played some truly terrifying villains over the years, most notably hired killer and bad haircut enthusiast Anton Chigurh in the Coen brothers’ No Country for Old Men.
If compressed air-wielding psychopaths aren’t for you, then Bardem has always played adversaries in franchises like Pirates of the Caribbean and James Bond, as well as countless other one-offs.
The great irony in all this is that, on the surface, Bardem appears to be a very nice guy in real life. He is a noted pacifist, claiming he was put off violence at a young age after breaking his nose in a nightclub scuffle. He has campaigned for a series of human rights issues, including the under-publicised case of the Sahrawis, an ethnic group native to the Western Sahara. He even narrated the 2012 documentary Sons of the Clouds, which highlighted people living in refugee camps in the region.
You might think that a man like this would enjoy music of a softer nature. Perhaps some light classical guitar, or regional folk music about the plight of certain minorities, or maybe even just some birdsong to help him transcend to a higher plane of being. Well, as it turns out, Bardem’s music taste actually has a lot more in common with the characters he favours.
On an episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the Oscar winner was asked about a viral video of him rocking out at a Judas Priest concert. “Judas Priest were playing in Madrid,” he recalled, “I would call my friends and they would say, ‘No, because I have to stay with the kids’ or ‘No, because I’m studying’. Bye-bye. And I went on my own.”
The organisers of the gig put the well-known star in the middle of the audience, so he’d have a bit of privacy. They also arranged to have a toilet located nearby, because, in Bardem’s own words, “heavy metal people, we also pee”.
All of this matches up to another interview Bardem gave at the Golden Globes in 2018. Speaking about his love for the genre, he revealed that he had spent most of the previous summer going to see all of his favourite bands in concert. “I saw Metallica, Judas Priest, Scorpions, Accept, Ozzy Osbourne, Kiss, Iron Maiden twice, and Pearl Jam, in less than a month and a half,” he revealed, noting, “My ears were bleeding, but my heart was full. I am very much into heavy metal myself.” Unfortunately for him, his wife, fellow actor Penélope Cruz, isn’t so enthusiastic. “Penélope doesn’t like that, no,” he mournfully revealed. “She is more into other stuff”.
It’s unclear whether or not Bardem will be at the Black Sabbath reunion show in Birmingham on July 5th. It will be his last chance to see Ozzy Osbourne perform, as the ‘Prince of Darkness’ has revealed that this will be his final live appearance.
Of course, just because you like loud music doesn’t mean you have to be a raucous, violent person. It’s just funny that so many of Bardem’s activities contradict his quiet personality. That’s the power of metal, it would seem.
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