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• Bio on Mr. Bardem
• BBC Q & A with Mr. Bardem
• The Sea Inside

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Tavis: I'm pleased to welcome Academy Award-nominated actor Javier Bardem to this program. This Spanish star's movie resumé includes 'Before Night Falls,' 'The Dancer Upstairs,' and this year's 'Collateral.' His latest movie is 'The Sea Inside,' which just won the National Board of Review award for best foreign film. The movie opens here stateside on December 17. Here now, a scene from 'The Sea Inside.'

Julia: Do you still see everyone?

Ramon: Some, yes. Others, no.

Julia: Who's this girl?

Ramon: No one.

Julia: She's in many photos.

Ramon: A girl from town. Can I have a drag?

Julia: Do you smoke?

Ramon: Every once in a while. In case it kills me.

Tavis: Javier, ¿Cómo está, Javier?

Bardem: Muy bien. ¿Y usted, caballero?

Tavis: Very well, thank you. Ha ha ha ha! That's all I got. ¿CÓmo está? Maybe at the end of the show, adios, amigo. That's about it. You doing OK?

Bardem: Yeah, fine.

Tavis: Nice to have you on. I'm gonna pull out my blue card that I don't usually pull out, but I'm using this because I had to write down a couple of quotes that I saw attributed to you that I think really set up a good conversation--I hope--at least about what this movie is about.

You said, and I quote, 'This movie is about medicine, religion, and government who owns your life.' You said, 'Life doesn't have the same meaning for everybody. It's not either/or, good or evil, as our leaders want us to believe.' With that said, tell me what this movie is really about.

Bardem: It's about that, really. The question is if we are as free as we are told we are. Which we are not, I guess, because there is always one institution that block our freedom to deal with our life and our death, even, whenever we want, as long as we don't hurt anybody else's life. And this is the story of a person that really existed that spent 30 years trying to fight for his dignified death. And it was impossible for him, because his life didn't own him. Everybody was owning his life.

Tavis: Tell me how one prepares--actually, let's talk more about the story line. You're playing a guy who's in a bed, basically, for how many years?

Bardem: For 30 years.

Tavis: 30 years in a bed. How does one prepare to play a character like this?

Bardem: There was a gap that I found interesting in trying to fill which was when you are 34--I was 34 when I did the movie, I'm 35 now--and you portray the 60-years-old man, there's something that you cannot connect with which is the idea of the end. Because when you are 34, you don't think that much about the end. And that I have to try to imagine through his writing, through his books. He wrote two books--one poetry book--

Tavis: We should give this guy a name--Ramon Sampedro.

Bardem: Ramon Sampedro. Thank you very much. And basically you prepare trying to read his books. And I was lucky enough to have a lot of material, because he died only in '98. So there's still a lot of people that knew him, including his family. So I have a chance to talk to them. I went to the hospital to speak with people in the same conditions. And I was very lucky in that sense. I wasn't playing Napoleon, which I guess I don't have--I have some paintings and books but not this kind of human beings telling me what they felt with this person.

Tavis: I hear the challenge you had playing the character, given that you are so young as compared to a person who's older who's dealing with an issue of euthanasia. But tell me as an actor--not as an actor, as a person, as a human being--what did you learn from the experience of playing Ramon Sampedro?

Bardem: Well, I guess I'm more comfortable with the unexpected. I'm more comfortable with the unexplained. I don't have to be anxious to know what's gonna happen next. And I guess I'm more relaxed with the idea of me being limited. Limited. Like my ego just is not that big as it was 3 months ago. It's big enough. I'm an actor, so--

Tavis: Ha ha ha ha! It's big enough. Just not quite as big as it was 3 months ago.

Bardem: Exactly. Which we could not really share the same bed once we had a fight, between him and I. No, it's like, OK, I'm more OK with the idea of me dying because death is a natural response of being born. Of course, I don't want to die. I'm scared of dying. But before, during the movie, it was something that I was denying. Just the idea it was--no, no. That's not gonna happen to me.

Tavis: Did you, while playing Ramon Sampedro-- How long did you shoot this project?

Bardem: 3 months.

Tavis: OK. So did you, in the process of shooting this consider what you would do if you were in a similar situation and, if so, what decision would you make?

Bardem: A lot of times, still, I wonder what I will do, but I don't know. I don't know what I'll do. I mean, it's based on so many things: circumstances, a time where I would have an accident like that or whatever--who will be the people who surround me, what they will think, how they will behave. But what I do know is even if somebody of my family, which I hope not, have this and they are going through the same pattern that Ramon Sampedro with that consciousness, that really mature explanation to himself and to the others of his strong will and they asked me to help them, I will. That will break my heart, but it's about their lives. It's not about me.

Tavis: You mentioned family. I want to talk about your family, because you're from a very, very stellar family, a family of great actors back in Spain. We'll talk about that in a second. Before I get to your family, let me stay with Mr. Sampedro's family one second here or at least with his decision. What about his decision? Whether one agrees or disagrees with one taking one's own life--we've had that debate in this country for years with Dr. Kevorkian, you know, et cetera, et cetera--what most sensitized you? What did you most relate to as you got to know more about this person, this character you play? What most sensitized you? What made you understand or accept the most? What connected with you in terms of why he would make that decision?

Bardem: I guess he was, uh, trying to ask for two things--first, the freedom. It's a word that we also--I mean, we create words in the name of freedom.

Tavis: But the freedom now to make his own choice, you mean?

Bardem: Exactly. Freedom is a huge word, and sometimes you can manipulate people through that word. He didn't want to be manipulated by that word. And he wants to be free on his own, and then he realized as long as he was trying to fight for his own freedom, that nobody will let him go where he wanted to go. So that's a huge fight he has. And also, he was trying to tell the people, to his own family and friends, that--what's real love? Is real love to own what you love? Or are we able to love without the need to possess what we love? And I guess we are not. That's one of the principal reasons why couples break up, because we think that we know what the other person needs, and we act in that consequence. But no. I mean, he said, 'Are you able to see my needs?' And even if it's against your needs, will you love me that much to help me because you know that I need that? It's a great question, and he was fighting to make people aware of that.

Tavis: I have to stop you, Javier. You're getting too deep for me now.

Bardem: Ha ha ha ha!

Tavis: Getting real deep on me with that one. We can do a seminar on that thing, man, on that breakdown. I mentioned--I want to get back to your family. One could believe--one could argue, I think, legitimately, your ego notwithstanding, that you had to be an actor because it's all up in your family. You didn't have a choice, did you?

Bardem: Well, I wanted to be a painter, but then I worked as an extra in order to gain money to keep on painting.

Tavis: Ha ha ha ha!

Bardem: And then, by the end, I was doing my things on the movies, and I realized that I wanted to be there. I was trying to run away from my destiny, but then it's like the job choose me. I didn't choose the job, which is something that I still feel. Like, something I feel like I don't own it, like the job owns me.

Tavis: Let's walk through your-- How many people in your family are in this business?

Bardem: Well, my mom. My uncle used to be. He died recently. And brother, sister, grandparents, father of my grandparents. My cousins, the four of them. I mean, almost everybody.

Tavis: What is it about the arts, about the acting game, to be more specific, that drew--pulled your family into it? What makes one family--I mean, I think of different--interesting comparison for African Americans. We have a family called the Wayans family here, comedians that are all in the business--most of them, at least. What was it about this business, this artistic expression, that really pulled your entire family into it?

Bardem: I don't know. I guess we are very...

Tavis: Creative.

Bardem: Creative. I don't know, yeah. I mean, it's hard also, because thanks to my family, I don't buy not even the good or the bad of this profession. I don't really care about the consequences of my job, because I've seen everything. I've seen people up, people down, people going through horrible moments and then the next month to be rewarded and say that they are the best actors ever. It's like I don't buy anything of that. I just--I'm just worried about the job, the work, and that's where I put my compromise. The other thing, it's like, no, no worries about that because you see how delicate this work, how delicate it is to be out there exposed.

Tavis: Since it pulls your-- Final question here. Since it pulled you into it, since you're supposed to be doing this, tell me what you think your mission is. What is your purpose? What are you supposed to use this gift, this skill, this talent for?

Bardem: Well, thank you for 'gift' and 'talent.' Those are beautiful words just for an actor.

Tavis: It runs in the family, runs in the family.

Bardem: I don't know. I just try to portray those people that I would like to see portrayed in some screens, in some screens, because I like human beings. I mean, I'm interested in human beings. I like his contributions, his struggles, the worst and the best of them. And that's why I would like to portray those guys. Why? I don't know, because that's the only thing I know to do.

Tavis: Well, you're awfully good at it. And your painting. Nice to see you.

That's our show for tonight. As always, you can catch me on the radio on NPR. I'll see you back here next time on PBS. Until then, thanks for watching. Good night from Los Angeles. 'The Sea Inside' is the film. Keep the faith.