A recent trailer premiere seemed to confirm two absolute truths about the future of Hollywood blockbusters.
Number one, much like cockroaches, Pirates of the Caribbean movies will outlive us all.
Javier Bardem is destined to play villains for the rest of his career.
True, Bardem is a great villain. His portrayal of Anton Chirgurh in No Country For Old Men is one of the greatest performances in modern film history. He was seemingly-destined to play a Bond villain and did so as Raoul Silva in Skyfall. In The Counselor, he played a drug kingpin at the heart of the story. Now in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, he takes over as the new Big Bad to go up against Captain Jack Sparrow.
If you only watch American action and adventure movies, you could be excused for thinking Bardem only ever plays bad guys. And yet, the 47-year-old Spanish actor has a whole career full of winning performances where he’s not.
In The Sea Inside, he plays a quadriplegic fighting for the right to end his life. He’s a womanizing artist in Vicky Cristina Barcelona. In Eat Pray Love, he embodies a sensitive masculinity as far away from his evil roles as you can get. In each role he showcases how multifaceted he is as an actor and makes you wonder what he could do if he played “the good guy” we wanted to root for.
Of course, Bardem has the right to choose whatever projects he wants to do. But you have to wonder if he’ll ever get the chance to play a Marvel superhero or star in a Hollywood blockbuster as the grinning hero who overcomes the odds. You have to wonder if the fact that he’s a “foreigner” simply skews “villain” for these types of movies, especially to executives who like to repeat what’s worked for them in the past.
There are greater tragedies in the world but don’t be surprised when Bardem’s next big Hollywood role is announced and he’s the guy you’re supposed to root against. Shame cause he seems like a fun, and easy, actor to root for.
