Tagged: Javier Bardem

No Country for Old Men: Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh

Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men (2007)

Vitals

Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh, relentless psychopathic killer (“but so what? there’s plenty of them around”)

Texas, Summer 1980

Film: No Country for Old Men
Release Date: November 9, 2007
Director: Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
Costume Designer: Mary Zophres

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

The Coen brothers’ masterful adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s novel No Country for Old Men was released eighteen years ago today on November 9, 2007. The film won in four of its eight nominated categories at the Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, and Supporting Actor for Javier Bardem’s chilling performance as the amoral and awful-coiffed Anton Chigurh. Continue reading

Being the Ricardos: Desi Arnaz’s Real vs. Reel Blue Suit

Javier Bardem as Desi Arnaz in Being the Ricardos

Javier Bardem as Desi Arnaz in Being the Ricardos (2021)

Vitals

Javier Bardem as Desi Arnaz, Cuban-born bandleader, actor, and TV producer

Los Angeles, September 1952

Film: Being the Ricardos
Release Date: December 7, 2021
Director: Aaron Sorkin
Costume Designer: Susan Lyall

Background

I grew up watching I Love Lucy, my childhood punctuated by many memories of me channeling inordinate levels of anxiety at Lucy’s antics into pacing around my grandmother’s kitchen while the decades-old drama unfolded in black-and-white from the small TV tucked on a corner countertop. Almost thirty years later, I still can recollect Lucy pitching Vitameatavegamin or stomping grapes with better clarity than anything I may have binged on Netflix over the last year.

As the real Desi Arnaz was born 105 years ago today on March 2, 1917, let’s take a look at Javier Bardem’s Academy Award-nominated performance as Desi in Being the Ricardos. Continue reading