Javier and Penelope Talk Equality

Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz have been married since 2010, but they’ve been acting together for more than 26 years.

Their latest project, Asghar Farhadi‘s Spanish thriller Everybody Knows opened at the Cannes Film Festival Tuesday night, and the lovebirds were there to promote the film.

• On Wednesday, the Oscar-winning Cruz opened up about the movie (which she said was the toughest project of her life), and her marriage to Bardem. In the film, she plays Laura, whose daughter was kidnapped. Bardem plays her estranged lover, and he helps her try to track down her child.
• For this film, Cruz says she was determined to keep the anguish she had to embody on set from her personal life. “Maybe I did that [extreme method] experiment when I was younger-because we both started acting when we were very young. When I was younger, in my 20s, I thought the more I would torture myself and the more I would stay in character for months, the better I would be . . . but then I realized that [torture] is not related to [performance], that I have a life and a job.”
• The director took note of the dance they have mastered. “I was full of admiration to see the way Penlope and Javier managed to have very clear limits between fiction and reality, life and work,” said Farhadi. “Their family [life] is so simple and harmonious together with their children . . . they are the very symbol of a happy couple, a loving couple. It was very positive for me to see what deep respect they have for each other.”
• Speaking of Bardem, Cruz said: “I really respect his opinion-obviously his is one of the most important opinions in my life. You are doing your work in front of this other person who is [on screen] not your husband. You feel a little more observed [than you would with different co-stars], but you know you are being observed by someone who you trust, who has your back.”
• Alluding to the notorious wage gap plaguing Hollywood, a reporter asked if the pair were paid the same amount, Cruz said: “Actually, yes.”