"Penelope Cruz"

Well, I know your camera's tilted a little down, and I'm noticing your legs. You're wearing some shorts today. Thank you.

By the way, first of all, let me just say thank you.

Forty degrees outside.

Thank you so much. I appreciate the compliment.

Have you not been outside the house to do drop-off at all today?

Thanks again. I just want to say, for me, it's hard to take so much credit, obviously, the man upstairs sculpted these babies, but...

You live in a duplex?

Welcome to Smartlish. Wow.

Will.

Smart.

Will.

Smart.

Will.

Fucking Will, dude. That looks badass.

Doesn't that look good? You can't hear us yet.

Goddamn.

We have Will Audio. Shawnee joining. Shawnee joining.

Willie, I think that looks fucking badass.

Do you?

Yeah. Yeah. I think it looks great.

We are rolling. Surprise the guests. Give us a little clap if you don't mind.

Guys, I might do it. I was doing a little test for this new thing I'm doing, and I might do it. I might do it. I might keep it. I don't know.

I think that's the winner right there. Jesus. Look at the fucking bone structure. How do you get fucking bone structure with a haircut?

I don't know, man. I guess it's just...

Oh, shit.

Hang on. I looked at it before. Genetics.

Genetics.

Sorry.

That's really good.

Fucking great.

Really good.

I love seeing you, JB, in the full vest, in the down vest this morning.

Just coming off the slopes there.

Oh, no. I just... This is just carpool drop-off, or whatever you call it, school drop-off. What are these kids? What are my kids' names?

Yeah, I know.

What's the young one? Tell me the young one's name.

Maple's the name.

That's Maple. That's your drop-off zip-up?

Fresh back from drop-off. Yeah. This is post-drop-off, pre-shower, pre-G4, handsome golf outfit.

Oh, so you do have golf today.

So you're going to take a shower before?

I will be taking a shower, yes, getting it all nice and powder dry, clean.

You know our buddy, Skip Bronson?

Skip Bronson. I saw him yesterday swinging it over there.

He claimed that we're the visor twins, because you and I...

I do like a visor. Yeah. I like a visor, because I feel like this big, dumb, head of crazy hair can't fit into a cap nowadays.

I like your new look, by the way. We were talking about it, Jay. Your new look is sort of rugged.

They were both trying on some new looks for parts coming up. I know. I'm supposed to be looking like an ex-drummer, drug addict loser, and I'm really kind of nailing it with this stupid long hair and facial hair.

You're playing a hooligan, like a soccer hooligan.

Yeah. Yeah.

You know what I mean?

What do I look like? I'm playing?

You look like you're playing like a...

Be nice, Will.

Like a 53-year-old Illinois house husband.

Yeah. It's a family after-school special about a 50-year-old that's going back to elementary school because he just didn't get fifth grade right.

And body swaps. There's going to be a body swap, right?

There's going to be... I love a body swap. Jay, have you done a body swap?

He's got a lunch, pail. Yeah, I did a body swap movie. Yeah. Me and Ryan Reynolds pissed into a magic fountain. Yeah.

And then you decided to do a movie together? What happened?

Oh, Will. This guy, he's really on me today. He's getting me, huh?

Sean, you got some texts coming through? Sean, you want to just take care of those?

No, I'm trying to find the photo of me with my shaved head. I can't find it.

Are you advertising for Brentwood Country Mart? What is that? What are you just saying? This is where I like to eat most?

Hey, welcome back to Hashtag Relatable. This week, we're going over markets.

Anybody can go to the Brentwood Country Mart. It's fantastic.

Mm-hmm. Is that their tagline? It's fantastic? Boy, they didn't put a lot of thought into that.

It's terrific. It is terrific. It's dynamite. It is very good. All right, Will, what do you got today?

I want to speak about dynamite because this, our guest today, is nothing...

Is dynamite?

Well, nothing short of dynamite. Let me just say that much, and I'll tell you why.

She's explosive. We do know it's a she. I heard a giggle, and I heard some jewelry on the clap.

Oh, you did? Yeah, I heard a gig.

Yep.

You heard a gig, too? Mm-hmm. Now, where is everybody hearing all these gigs?

Well, we've got actual headphones on. I do, too, but... You've got snazzy earbuds.

I don't know, man. I just... I don't know how I missed the gig. anyway. I, um...

Oh, man, this is so good. Yeah, take your time.

Well, I was just going to say, so we get a lot of...

We get...

We get... Oh, there.

Look at that.

She is ready. She's a singer.

She's ready. I'll tell you why she's ready. Because this is somebody who's got... You know, we've had award-winning actors and actresses, and performers and directors, but imagine being nominated for four Academy Awards and winning one.

Imagine it.

Imagine being nominated for two Baptists and winning one. Imagine being nominated for... Goddamn it. I get so nervous. Emmy, four Golden Globes, five SAG Awards.

Yeah.

Are you starting to get what I'm throwing down, you guys?

Yeah. Yeah.

Are you starting to get that? Because this person has done some of the greatest, biggest films of all time, some of the most cool, independent films, thought-provoking films. She's done it all. She is somebody that I have admired for a long time, me and the rest of the world. I don't know how else to say other than to say, guys, it's Penelope Cruz.

Oh!

Wow. Can you believe it? I mean, this is...

There's a whole royalty on her.

Wow.

Look at her, go. Penelope. Hi.

Hi.

What an amazing presentation. I don't think I deserve that, but thank you so much.

Oh, my gosh. It's absolutely true. Hello.

All of it's true.

Nice to meet you. Good morning.

Nice to meet you, too.

Nice to meet you. Thank you for joining us. Wow.

Where do we... We're not in your bedroom. We're in a hotel room. Are we not?

Where are we? This is actually not my bedroom. No. This is a room where they brought me to do the interview.

Where are you? You're doing some press?

We are in a hotel for a couple of days here in L.A.

Yeah.

And going back home soon.

She's doing... Penelope, and correct me if I'm wrong, you're here doing press for Ferrari, your new film that you've done with Michael Mann. Is that true?

Yes, true.

Which is fantastic, and we had the pleasure of meeting one of your co-stars, Adam Driver, and we're very excited for Ferrari.

Yeah, I can't wait to see it.

But I'm really excited to talk to you, Penelope, about just what an incredibly diverse career that you've had, that you've carved out. And I kind of want to touch on something. I'm so excited you're here, by the way. I want to talk about...

This is wild.

There's a story that I picked up on. I saw an interview you did with Terry Gross on Fresh Air, and it really piqued my interest. And guys, I don't know if you know this, and I'd love for you to speak to this. You talk about you were a big fan of Pedro Almodovar, right? Fantastic fan, the great Spanish filmmaker.

Also, also, I did.

You did wait outside his house.

That's something I would do.

Yeah, a couple of times.

A couple of times, and then would go to bars and restaurants and wait, and your friends thought you were insane, and you said, believe me, I have this connection, and it will happen. Can you talk to us a little bit about that?

What is that?

I know. for a lot of people it can sound weird, and also it sounded crazy to him when I told him for the first few years, he didn't believe me. And then a lot of things like that started to happen between him and I. And I think by now, like 30 years later, he believes me. We have a very special connection, and I was a huge fan of his work.

So what were some of those movies that you would watch 20 times that you loved, loved, loved as a kid?

I mean, I always knew I wanted to act, but I had no... Apart from the couple of hours that I spent doing classical ballet. that was like very hardcore, but at the same time, it was a way of acting and a way to release that need that I had of visiting and investigating different ways of being and different realities. I think I would have been very damaged if I didn't have that. But then I discovered that that was like a window to the world, you know, like.

But I mean, imagine that. I mean, you say that, right. It's like saying to your parents, I want to go live on the moon. You grew up in a small town outside of Madrid where you don't even have a theater. And all your connection to films is through renting Betamax tapes.

Yes.

And that you're like the follow through. And, like you said, for some people it might seem weird, but you knew that there was something there.

You thought you were pretty confident that, like once he meets me, I know we're going to have a connection. He seems like the kind of guy I would get along with. And you just put yourself in front of him?

Yeah. Not because I thought I was good. Just because I thought that he saw the world in a very similar way to the way that I saw it, since I was a little girl. And actually I got into one of the sets without permission when I was 14.. And he was doing...

Imagine getting that call, Sean. It would be like you if you're like, Sean, Kraft, Macaroni and Cheese is on the phone. And you'd be like, no way.

I'd be like, dreams come true.

Kraft, Macaroni and Cheese is not on the phone.

Like if you have a specific dream, it comes true.

He loves food, Penelope. Me too.

So, Penelope, what about when you filled him in on this story? Did he remember them? That you've been following him around. Was he charmed by that? Did he laugh?

Did he remember you being at the monitor when you were 15??

No, not that. But then I told him, look, one time at the cinema, I told my friends that I was going to find you that day. And it was just a random cinema. By the time that I was able to go to the cinema alone, when I was older. And my friend couldn't believe it, because by the end of the movie, we came out and he was there in the street.

That's cool. So, how many films have you done with him now?

Seven. And, I hope, many more. I just talked to him this morning.

Wow, that's amazing. He's one of the greatest.

He's one of the loves of my life. He's much more than a director. I work with. He's family.

Yeah, sure, of course.

And he is hilarious. And you have to invite him here because he will make you laugh so much.

It would be like a dream come true. He's one of the great directors and he's one of the great imaginations, one of the great storytellers. And the guys know I don't use that term lightly. Wow. But before you worked with him, you had done two films, right?

It was like a miracle that I found my agent. When I found my agent, she's now 83, and we've been together since I was 14.. I love that. The first time I went to see her, she sent me home. She said, what are you doing here?

Penelope, all the dreams that you had about, I hope it happens. I want to meet Pedro. I want my career to take off. All the dreams you had, all the aspirations that you had, you. now, I would assume, have them even bigger than you even dreamed back then.

My favorite part about this profession, and the one that gives me a real happiness that can last and that is based on hard work and the values that I think my parents taught me, is the part that you are new. each time you are starting from zero. You never get to a place where you feel you have things under control. You are like a constant student. You're never going to do the same role twice.

You're not the number one on the call sheet at home.

Never, but for the rest of my life. I will never be an I don't want to. And that's like the biggest amount of happiness in my life comes from that. And I realized that because I started so young. Then, when I was like 20-something, I had already gone through a lot of like emotions related to that, to, oh, what is it to get that attention?

Yeah.

And we will be right back.

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All right. Back to the show.

I think you put it in the right place. when I remember telling my kids I have three boys and a stepson, so four boys in the house. It's crazy. And I remember saying, when my older boys were younger, sort of six, seven, and people want to take photos or whatever, and I remember explaining that to them, and it was through explaining to them the idea of these. people don't know me.

No, I'm 40..

Sure, maybe 40.. Thank you. I really appreciate it. But one of the things I've been thinking about is this idea of staying. I was saying to somebody, I want to stay in the student section of life, not just in my work.

I agree. I agree. And I feel like when you have kids, immediately you are put in that place forever, because it's such a lesson every day and so much wisdom that comes from just the total honesty that all the kids have.

Yeah, they don't care.

Sorry, Cheyenne. It's a great reminder that you know nothing until you learn it. Like you get to watch them learn things or get experience with things for the very first time, and we forget that moment for us. For instance, somebody sent us a gift yesterday and there was like a cassette tape in it, one of those old audio cassette tapes. And my 12-year-old daughter said, what's this?

Same thing happened to me last month and I was shocked.

She didn't know how to open up that cassette box, that clear see-through cassette box.

And you said, this is what daddy used to put in his Chiraco.

Exactly. I said, I used to have hundreds of these. These are what albums used to be on. She goes, really? There's music on this?

How did you have a….

There was a little like a Walkman that came with the gift. No way. And it took her five minutes to open up. I finally had to take it from her. I said, let me show you how to open….

Also, age helps. Age helps not giving a shit. Like, right? The older you get, you're just like, I'm too tired and old to care.

Well, you maybe start caring about things that are actually important and all the things that are related, about how you are perceived by people that you don't know, which is different than, of course, if you have a job like the one that we have, at the end of the day, you are doing that to try to move energy in people, to try to…. We make movies for that reason, not to change the world, but you want to connect with people.

Yeah.

I want to go back to ballet. I had no idea you were a ballet dancer. That's crazy. Did you find that…? How many years did you take ballet?

Like 17..

Wow. 17 years.

Do you still dance at all? Well, when I get the chance to…. I might do a musical soon again. Nine. You were great in nine.

Wow, so you don't have the wear and tear on a person's body of 17 years of being on your toes. Yeah. Do you have any kind of like…?

Your toes still hurt?

No, but I mean, I got used to that. When you are bleeding and your nails are like… You lose them. They get really dark and then they fall off and you have to keep dancing and smiling. Wow, sure. And the discipline that it gives you, it helped me a lot because I started to work as an actress so young and I had the discipline from that.

I'm sure.

I can't believe it. That's so great. You know, you talked a little bit about…. Sorry, just to swing back to like what's important and stuff. So both you and your partner are film actors and actors at the highest level and very much into men.

Very different. Very different. Where the total priority, the number one priority, is the family. Also, most of my family, mom and sisters, and most of them are there in Spain. My brother and nephew are here in LA and I miss them so much.

Yeah, of course.

What's the atmosphere like there where you live in Spain, with respect to Hollywood and the media, and fame and paparazzi and all that kind of stuff? Can you live a very sort of normal in quotes life there as opposed to here?

Yes. Oh good. Well, when I was here, I mean there was a way to do it also. I mean it depends what kind of place you go to. You know how it is.

You can go to a public gym?

Of course. And I can go everywhere.

And even if they do recognize you, do, they treat celebrity with such reverence there like they do here? I think it's a little too big here.

No, I think it's not a surprise to see us there. And also everything ends up being close to the area where I grew up and it feels like if you knew all your neighbors. It feels very easy going and people are very nice.

And is Javier from the same area?

He was actually born in Canary Islands, but he was raised more in the city and I was raised more out of Madrid. But also in L.A. I had no problems where I lived here and I feel like it's more like choosing where you go to. If you're going to go to a place looking for attention or you go to a place where you can live your day.

It's the vibe you put out too, right?

And also what you wear too. Like. if you look all great and fabulous, or if you look like you're trying to hide with a hat and big glasses, you stand out like a sore thumb. But if there's no hiding whatsoever, it's just a little sweatshirt or something.

We had a guest on, one of our guests, who's a friend of the show, I won't name him, but years ago I'd gone to his house. One of the biggest film actors on the planet. And we went to his house and I was giving him a lift home and we get to his gate. that was barely like a gate. and then he said, just punch in the code.

Yeah, yeah, it's true. It's true. Probably take less attention like that.

I totally, by the way, totally agree. I'm like, if somebody is going to get me, they're going to get me.

Well, why do you have that? You have that sign that says Sean Hayes lives here in front of your house.

Yeah, but I mean, he's behind some hedges.

Penelope, before we go any further, I want to ask you, and this is a tough question and you can feel free to not answer it. We can always cut it out. Real Madrid or Atletico Madrid?

You know what? You don't care. No, no, I mean, I do, because that's another thing that changes when you are a mother and suddenly you see they like football. But then you start loving football too. I have a family that is from Atletico, family from Barcelona, a club family from Real Madrid.

Very, very good. I love, I'm a huge football fan and I'm obsessed and actually like both those teams as well. They have great players.

We're recording this right around the holiday season. And are you a big holiday fan? Do you love Christmas? Or I don't know what you guys celebrate. Do you guys go skiing?

It's just about being with the family. And since I have my kids, I really see, I get to experience again Christmas like when I was little, and it's like having a second chance like to experience it, to experience that magic. And it's incredible. I love it again so much. For a few years, it was just like one more part of the year.

My 3-year-old this morning, he was saying that he wanted to get this truck. It was like a crane thing. And I said, okay, well, we'll see if Santa comes and he goes, no, you buy it. And I said, no, no, no. We're going to see if Santa goes, dada, you buy it.

How old is he?

He's 3 1⁄2.. Yeah.

What do you think is too old to be still in the Santa world? I'm saying this gently because I don't know how young our listeners are.

I feel it's when they're ready. Yeah, when they're ready. When they're ready, when they're ready. Maybe your son is ready now. I know, it doesn't happen.

He doesn't think that I'm Santa. No, no, no. He's just saying that he doesn't want to wait for Santa. Look at this guy. Look at this guy.

Adorable.

Was he on the potty there? Adorable. I love it. He looks very excited about his movement.

Daddy, look.

Believe me, I asked him this morning also, I'm not going to get to it, but I asked him, who's the boss? And he said me. I said, you're not the boss. Anyway.

I remember, in Christmas, my mom used to get us so much more in debt than we already were. Christmas was the number one thing in her life. She would max out her credit cards and mortgage the house just so we could have presents. And as I got older, I'm like, I don't know if this is the greatest business model for our home.

You're leaving us with another gift too, Mom. That's debt.

By the way, it's very much symbolic of the age that we live in. You watch these ads now on TV and they're all like, everybody's going to go to one of these big box stores and they're like, well, Dad needs a CD player. My son needs a new big screen TV. And I'm like, what kind of money do people have that they're spending? You know what I mean?

I also remember really quick, just while we're on the subject, my mom constantly with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth, constantly, 24 hours a day, filling the stockings by the fire and then by the tree. that was real, with her lit cigarette, just putting stuff under the tree.

That was my dad too. Really? Yeah, smoking in the house and doctors telling him, you have to quit. And he was saying to us, this is a complot of the family. It's not true that I have to quit.

How is the smoking in Europe? There's still a lot of smokers in Europe, correct?

Much less. I mean, I grew up spending time every day in a hair salon because my mom owned a hair salon. Everyone was smoking in front of all the kids. The combination of that, plus all the toxicity of all the products. Can you imagine?

You can smoke in the elevator over in Europe. There's ashtrays in the elevators.

When?

When I was in Paris a couple of years ago, there were still ashtrays in the elevators.

I don't know. I think it's like now.

We don't know yet.

No, of course not.

Not at all.

No, no, no.

Wait a second. Penelope, how many languages do you know? Everyone that lives in Europe knows like five languages.

Well, I speak Italian, Spanish, English, with this accent that I don't know when I will get rid of. A little bit, yes. Oh my God.

Okay, we can speak French. Okay. If you want, if you want.

Can I try?

Yes, me too. My vocabulary is limited.

I could listen to the whole thing. So, Penelope, you know, obviously I don't know you. It's such a pleasure to meet you.

It's so nice you're doing the show. Thank you, Penelope.

No, I love it. This is so much fun. I could be here for five hours straight. Okay, great.

Well, we have two minutes. No, I'm kidding. Where are you going? No.

Believe me, Sean has eight hours that he needs to fill today.

So this is perfect. If you could just stick around until seven tonight. No, it seems like, you know, there's certain points in my life that I can remember changed me and I grew from. I'm going to sneeze. Sorry.

You can announce it?

That was the best. That's our first ever sneeze. That is phenomenal. I love that.

Sometimes I sneeze eight times in a row. Oh, my God.

I do three. It's always three. It's going to happen.

I did it. I did it today. I did it this morning, too. I think it's going around. I sneezed.

What about people who muffle their sneezes? It's my favorite thing to do. And people that stifle them. I can't.

Just let it out.

You're depriving yourself of one of the greatest releases ever.

Yeah, that has to be bad for you.

Yeah, sneeze edging is no good.

All right, keep going, Sean.

Sean, keep going.

My thing was, there are certain points in my life that I can recall changed me, where I grew from them, where I learned.

Fill in the joke here.

There are experiences that made me grow up quickly and realize and see things differently. And you seem like, again, not knowing you, you seem like you have an amazing no bullshit meter.

Oh, thank you. That's a great compliment.

You can call it out right away. Were there certain moments in your life that taught you that, that you can remember? You're like, you know what, because of this experience, I have now changed. I'm going to call you on that now, so it doesn't happen to me again.

Yes. A few things, like crucial moments in my life that I remember, that were like a turning point in terms of like, oh, actually, you can respect yourself that much, and it's okay. No, it's not just okay. I feel so much happier. And moments like this are, I feel like, if you get to live a long life, those things you remember before you go, I'm sure.

Yeah. Do you remember what some of those are? or moments, if you want to share them?

For example, working with Michael was very interesting that way, because he's very, very tough. And I loved, we didn't have a lot of free time there. We were working really hard, nonstop. But sometimes if we had 10 minutes in between shows, I just wanted to talk to him about,

There is no free lunch?

That advice. Yeah, there is no free lunch. Meaning like if, I don't want to give a specific example, but there are times in your life when you know you have to say no to something and so many justifications and oh, but this, but that will make you say, yes, you don't want to hurt somebody's feelings. You don't want to, no, no, no, it's too complicated. But you feel like what's the right thing to do?

And then you're like, oh, I didn't know that. it's okay for me to say no.

Yeah. Well, that's a boundary thing, right?

It's a boundary thing, meaning there is no free lunch. If you don't say no when you know you have to and you accumulate too many of those, one day you're going to explode.

I know, because I had to learn that too.

Well, same here. And J.B., we talked, Sean, you and I talked about with J.B. I said within the last year, Jason, I said to you, I really respect your ability to draw boundaries for yourself. You've gotten, you're really good. You really set a good example for me.

It's very difficult to learn that. Yeah. Also, as an actor, actress, starting very young, when you depend on others to say yes to you to work and then you realize that, oh, maybe I have to say no, for example, to this project. And how can I allow myself to say no to that? That also was a huge lesson.

Thank you for saying that, Will. But one of the things that I worry about is that I, just, that I get meaner or that think people will think, oh, well, he's being mean. You do. Right. Or he's crankier.

I see you making the, I've seen you making the effort lately. I swear to God. I'm not kidding.

It's not about the no. It's about how you say the no. Yeah.

How you say it. and what you're saying, Jason, is, you're just more honest. Yeah. And that doesn't make you meaner. You're just more honest because behind a lot of yeses that you don't want to say, there is a, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

By the way, we're, by the way, we are still owed seven more sneezes.

Yeah.

I know, but it's not happening.

We'll wait.

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One of our friends gave us a good tip. They said that because, you know, someone will ask you, Hey, you know, next month, would you mind coming over to my place and helping me out with such and such? And you might say, Sure, yeah, you know, because it's a month away. And then the day comes, and you're like, Oh, I can't believe. I said yes to that.

And you replace it with tomorrow. It's kind of a good…. I want to ask you…. This is going to be…. I'm veering way off topic.

It's going to ask you to do something in a few months and just pretend.

I'm just going to say no.

No? Okay.

Wait, let's see.

Okay. It's a bag with 30 million euros in it, but I guess no. Listen, no, I was going to ask you about…. I love Madrid. I've been there a few times.

Yeah.

Oh, God, I'm out.

And it was just starting to fill up. And the families…. It was that very famous restaurant where everybody goes. I forget what it's called, but it's a very sort of fancy. And it was like….

Why is that? Why is it always so late?

It just sounds like a bunch of acid reflux.

That was my schedule before having a family. You know, it was like normal to go to dinner at 10 with your friends, with family. But not…. I mean, schools in Spain start early, like here, like around 8.30 or 8.. And you can have that schedule.

I've never been to Spain. I want to go. really bad. You've never been? I want to go.

No, you got to go north.

In the summer, we have light until 10..

No way.

In the summer, we do.

But the further north you go, Sean, the lighter it stays. This is so…. I'm so sorry. We're sorry. This is so embarrassing.

He also experienced the light of Madrid in the summer.

So, Penelope, now here you are. You're here in America, and you're doing all this stuff for Ferrari, which is phenomenal. First of all, Michael Mann, of course, one of the all-time great directors. But you're here, you're in America, and you're doing all the stuff that goes with that.

Yeah, this is what I love.

The press tour, which includes talking to us, I imagine. But what is that like for you? How do you sort of gear up for that, with your life and everything that's going on with the kids? And you got to go like, all right, I got to go, do all the junkets.

Turn it on.

Yeah, I got to….

Do you like that stuff, or is it okay?

As you know, it's part of it. And I just do very short trips. I went to New York for one day for the Gotham Awards, and then back home. And then London one day and a half, back home. Now we're here for a couple of days.

Ideally, would you do one job a year or two jobs a year?

That changes a lot. I used to do like four movies per year and travel nonstop. And now I do like one per year, and they're not too long. I can do one in Madrid while the school is happening. Maybe we do that one and one in the summer, so we can travel all together.

Yeah, it's so cool to be able to shift that perspective from when you're younger and you were saying you're trying to make a mark, you're trying to do as much stuff as you can. You want to work with directors, you want to work on different projects. And then you get older and you're like, yeah, that stuff's not as important to me anymore. I mean, it's a luxury, obviously.

Yeah, it is. It is. I mean, I don't take it for granted. And I also still love so much preparing a character, the research process, and being on the set and the creativity, and how that makes me feel like searching for answers. And I still feel like the little girl that was watching the Betamax.

What was your first Hollywood film? What was your first big?

It was Stephen Frears, a movie called Halo Country. And I was obsessed with him because of the grifters and Dangerous Liaison. So that was also a phone call that made me so happy.

Can I ask you a dorky actor question? Because you're such a great actor.

I am, you too. Thank you so much.

No, no, you really are. I find myself when I watch you play a character, I'm leaning in. I'm trying to read your mind.

We're going to go a different way.

The rhythm of something. Do you have to manage that at all? Do you even think about it?

I think about it a lot because I feel very lucky that I'm able to do movies in four languages. And a lot of different accents. For example, with the Spanish language, a lot of different accents. And I feel like sometimes I don't want to call it a disadvantage to have an accent. Because at the end of the day, for me in my career, it has given me more advantages than the opposite.

And you feel like you have as much control over your intention when you're reading a line, even though you might be working with an accent, versus the kind of control you have when you're working in Spanish. You feel like it's equal enough?

I feel like if I put a lot, a lot of time into it so that I get to a place where I don't have to be thinking about it, I will have the advantages of having that distance between myself and the way that character speaks and not recognizing myself when I speak.

And that character would have an American accent or a Spanish accent?

No, he would have a Spanish accent, but we want it to be always as clear as possible.

And just so there's no gap there, so that it's much more immediate, is what you're saying.

Yeah, but the gap that is the accent or acting in another language sometimes helps so much to create that distance.

And allows you to enter a different person.

Yeah.

Can I ask you, when you won, I think it was 2008, maybe, when you won Academy Award for Vicky Cristina Barcelona, right? Is that 2008,, something like that?

I think it was 2008..

Maybe 2009,, something like that, for Vicky Cristina Barcelona. When you won, because this is always a trippy thing, it's kind of like you win the great Academy Award. Did you feel that kind of, was it euphoric in the moment? Was it let down? Did it change anything?

Was the moment as you imagined it?

Yeah, yeah.

It was the first one of the night.

Oh, God.

I was happy about that, because my heart was going so fast. I don't know how I could have gone through hours of that. But it was incredible to be able to hug my mother there. I was sad my father wasn't there, because they were not together as a couple. So they would take turns.

Pedro was like, oh, this girl will not leave me alone.

Exactly. And I remember going after the ceremony, we went to In-N-Out.

No way.

Of course, with the gown. And then we went to Guy Osiris' house, who is a very good friend of mine. And I'm sure you've been in that party. I walked in, and I looked to my left. And in a sofa together, there was Jack Nicholson, Scorsese, Harvey Keitel,

Guy can pack a house.

I was going to ask you a bit ago, but that's a perfect segue. You said you lived here for 15 years. But when you come visit, what are some of the things you look forward to? Eating, like In-N-Out, or seeing, or experiencing. Do you miss anything that you get excited about here?

I have a group of friends. We get together and we play Wolves. Wolves and Villagers. You know the game, right?

Of course.

And I'm sure you know some of the players. Oh, my God. And you know everyone ends up so angry with each other for weeks. Because you just have to lie and betray other people in this game. It's a really good game for actors.

You can play it on Zoom, too. Have you ever played it on Zoom?

No.

Yeah, you can play it on Zoom.

Interesting.

Yeah, you can do it on, I think over COVID there was a lot of mafia.

Interesting. Really? I have a team of players in Madrid. Many friends that are obsessed with the game, like I am. And then other team of players here.

There's a show based on it, Penelope, called Traitors. And it's based on that.

From the U.K.

A U.K. version, an American version, and an Australian version. Is it on TV?

A friend of mine did a Spanish version of the show.

Oh, really?

Yeah. Sergio Perez Mencheta.

It's interesting.

What's something that people don't know that you do, like a sort of guilty pleasure? Something that you, like, do you like watch bad reality TV? I feel like, Jason, I'm getting into your territory with this question.

Yeah, we love this question.

We love this question. What do you do? Are you secretly a golfer? Do you play tennis? Do you have some obsession?

You like to doodle?

Well, I love a good massage, I have to say.

Oh, my God. Wow.

I would have a massage every day.

You do? I would like to, every single day. Do you get a massage once a week?

No, but I don't know. Once a month. Maybe once a month, but I love it.

I hurt my back in the shower, actually, the other day.

How are you doing?

Yeah, just like trying to wash my feet, just reaching down, and out, it goes. So, I got a massage last night. It was so deep and so painful, I hurt more today than I did yesterday. Yeah, for sure. But it's all different.

I don't know. It's one of my, I don't know, what can you call it? It's not a hobby. What can you call it?

It's a passion.

It's a treat.

And I love knitting. Oh, you do? Yeah, I'm starting to do that with my daughter, because my grandmother taught me how to do that and sewing. And I love cooking, because with my job, it's not that I can cook every day, but it's something that I really like. And I don't have a lot of, actually, like a lot of social life.

What like?

I don't know why I always end up talking about this in interviews, but I love reading about medicine.

I do, too. I do, too.

Why are you a hypochondriac? Yes, sir. I'm obsessed. There are many in the world.

I'm obsessed. You do?

Yes. I love. when I find somebody that can discuss the endocrine system. Am I going to get it? I'm like, oh, best friend.

Sean is on a VIP program. This is not a joke. It's Cedars. because he's so obsessed with his own, right? He has his own entrance.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, you and I, best friends.

Yes, I mean, I'm obsessed.

But do you both worry about mortality? Do you feel like it's-?

It's not about mortality. It's about suffering.

Yes. That's exactly right.

It's not about mortality.