Penélope Cruz: "The night before shooting 'The Black Ball' they told me that maybe I had a brain aneurysm"

Special envoy to San SebastianA few days before its theatrical release The Black Ball, the troupe of the Javis has revolutionized the San Sebastián Festival, where the film was screened for the first time in the country on the same day it won the audience award at the Toronto Festival, a new boost in its race towards the Oscars. In the film, Penélope Cruz (Alcobendas, 1974) plays a small but essential role, a kind of cabaret singer who serves as inspiration for the gay soldier from the Francoist side played by Guitarricadelafuente.

At this point in her career, she is in the privileged position of being able to choose which films she wants to make. What do the Javis have that convinced her to work with them?

— They are very special, they have impressive talent. Everything I had seen of theirs I loved, especially The Messiah, which fascinated me. What they achieved is very complicated, with so much truth, especially the work with the children. I asked people who knew them and who had worked on the series and they explained their way of working with the actors, even with the extras, which is impressive. And then I experienced it in person.

Can you give an example of that?

— The day we shot the tank musical number I was put together with 200 men with whom the Javis had worked on their own. With some I had coincided while setting up the choreography, but most of them I had never seen, nor they me. And it was decided to light the first rehearsal and shoot it directly. It was something wild, and I think that is the take that is in the movie. There was a necessary and healthy stress, and when we met, sparks flew. It was so intense that it was even considered to do some parts with a double. In photographs of the sequence it can be seen that everything is full of life and everyone in their place, with a mission and rowing in the same direction. This does not happen often. You have to be lucky, and above all have someone like the Javis, who give importance to the work of all the actors, both those who come for one day to say a line and those who spend months on the shoot.

Shooting this sequence was especially complicated for you, wasn't it?

— Yes. Apart from the natural stress of the shoot, the night before I received a call from my doctor, who told me that he thought I had a small brain aneurysm. It was as if time stood still. I asked the doctor what I should do about the shoot, if I could sing and dance, because it was 12 hours of non-stop cardio. And he told me yes, to go ahead, and that in two or three days we would repeat the test. I didn't even tell the Javis. And, since I had the doctor's blessing, I put all of that into the musical number. It was a crazy situation, I will never forget it in my life. And three days later we repeated the test and everything turned out fine, it was a false alarm.

The Javis are starting an Oscar race that you have already done several times, and successfully. Have you spoken about it? Do you have any advice for them?

— I don't like giving advice, but the subject has come up. I have already experienced what it is like to suddenly be in all the pools and then maybe you get nominated, but maybe not. The only advice I can think to give them is perhaps the most boring one, but at least I know I won't be wrong: that they don't go out much, that they sleep as much as they can, and that they dedicate their free hours to resting. Also, that you have to take care of your head and not lose your mind, but they have their heads very well screwed on. This cinema business is sometimes madness. Yesterday I arrived directly at the première of The Invitation after a flight of almost 20 hours that I took just after finishing filming my movie with Nancy Meyers. I had the feeling of having landed by parachute on the red carpet, I didn't even know where I was. The good part is that these are films that are receiving a lot of love, but you have to take care of yourself to be able to enjoy them.

It is a very motherly piece of advice.

— Yes, but it is curious because recently I read an interview of mine from when I was 17 or 18 years old and I was already saying the same thing. I was never one to go out much, I had the discipline of classical ballet, which helped me a lot regarding the things you have to face in this profession. And I believe that not being one to drink or go out at night has helped me do many things.

You yourself could be nominated for an Oscar for The Black Ball, but your name is also being mentioned for The Invitation and Bunker...

— I don't know if I have a chance and I prefer not to opine on these things and get my hopes up as little as possible. Whatever is to happen, will happen. I do think that many good things will happen to The Black Ball (The Black Ball). They have a good chance of being nominated for best directors and even for best screenplay and best film. Also the song by Guitarricadelafuente. Netflix has gone all out and they are in love with the film, as demonstrated by the 47 days they will allow it to be screened in cinemas in the United States before releasing it on the platform. And it is to be appreciated, because it is a film that must be seen in the cinema: the Javis have done something so miraculous that it deserves it.

What attracted you to the character of Nené Romero, the cabaret singer you play in the film?

— Above all, it represents a window to another possibility, to another world where you can be yourself. This is what Nené makes the soldier, played by Guitarricadelafuente, see, and he is fascinated by it, because he has just seen that this woman can be herself on stage, even though it is also very difficult for her. That the two characters connect in that way, open-heartedly, is very moving. She represents all the artists and role models that we have all had when we do not feel free, and who help us. I have also had such figures who have allowed me to dream of things that at that time seemed like science fiction, such as dedicating myself to cinema, because I did not know anyone related to art.

You yourself are an actress with many followers among the LGTBIQ+ community.

— It makes me very happy whenever they tell me that. Perhaps it is because there is a real respect, for how you have been raised at home and have lived it your whole life. And it surely also comes from my relationship with Pedro Almodóvar, for how his cinema and his friendship have marked me. Because he has been and is a master to me, and not just as a director. And I continue learning a lot from him. The Javis and I have in common this love for Pedro that is almost adoration. We know so many lines from his characters... I think I know more lines from Pedro's cinema than from my own characters. He is the person who made me take the step to dedicate myself to this profession. And it was a specific day, the day I saw Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! and I went out for a walk all alone. I thought: “I have to try this, because perhaps one day I can work with him”.