Penelope Cruz talks about Pedro Almodovar

Posted on 17. Sep, 2009 by h0ausagi in Actors

Spanish movie star PENELOPE CRUZ has placed her movie career in the hands of mentor PEDRO ALMODOVAR by agreeing to appear in his next three films.

The VANILLA SKY star has worked with her fellow countryman twice before, on the low-profile but critically acclaimed LIVE FLESH and ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER – and is so confident he’ll have a positive effect on her career she doesn’t care what the movies are.

The first of their new collaborations is VOLVER, which is currently in pre-production and due to hit the big screen next year (06).

Cruz says, “I’m going to do his next two or three movies“.

“He is writing them so fast. He has a comedy and a drama, and I’m like, ‘Yes, yes, yes,’ to all of it. I’m in his hands now, until September

About Penelope Cruz

Penélope Cruz Sánchez (born April 28, 1974), better known as Penélope Cruz, is a Spanish actress. She gathered critical acclaim as a young actress for films such as Jamón, Jamón, La Niña de tus ojos, and Belle époque. She has also starred in several American films such as Blow, Vanilla Sky, and Vicky Cristina Barcelona. She is perhaps best known for her work with acclaimed Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar, in Broken Embraces, Volver and All About My Mother.

Cruz has been awarded three Goyas, two European Film Awards, and the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival. In 2009, she won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, a Goya, and a BAFTA for her role in Vicky Cristina Barcelona. She is Spain’s first female Oscar winner and also becomes the sixth Hispanic person to win an Oscar after José Ferrer, Rita Moreno and Benicio Del Toro (Puerto Rico), Anthony Quinn (Mexico), plus fellow Spaniard Javier Bardem.

Cruz first achieved fame when she appeared in the video for “La fuerza del destino” for the Spanish synthpop group Mecano. She later started a relationship with Nacho Cano, a member of the group. Cruz’s first major films were Jamón, jamón and Belle Époque, a film which won an Academy Award for Foreign Language Film. In 1997, she starred as Sofía Pangia, alongside Eduardo Noriega, in Abre los ojos, directed by Alejandro Amenábar, while in 1999 she appeared in Pedro Almodóvar’s Todo sobre mi madre (All About My Mother), which also won an Academy Award for Foreign Language Film. In 2000 she appeared with Matt Damon in All the Pretty Horses.

In 2006, she co-starred with her best friend, Salma Hayek, in the film Bandidas. That same year, Cruz received highly favourable reviews for her performance in Pedro Almodóvar’s Volver. She shared a Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival with five of her co-stars, and was nominated for the Golden Globe, the Screen Actors Guild Award, the BAFTA Award, and the Academy Award for Best Actress in a leading role. The latter of these nominations made her the first Spanish actress to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress.

In 2008, she starred in Woody Allen’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona as María Elena, Javier Bardem’s mentally unstable ex-wife. Her performance received wide critical praise. For the role, Cruz received her second Academy Award Nomination, and later won for Best Supporting Actress, making her only the second Spanish actor to win an Academy Award, a year after her boyfriend, Javier Bardem, won for No Country for Old Men. She became the first Spanish actress to win an Academy Award, and one of the only actors besides Robert De Niro and Ingrid Bergman to win the Oscar for a role speaking two different languages.