Javier Bardem (“Lilo, my friend the crocodile”): “I asked why they called me and not Hugh Jackman”

For Javier Bardem, getting out of the comfort zone is a common thing. His career has been marked by versatility and interpretative challenges, and while it may seem that he has already done it all, in reality he still had few areas left to explore. In ‘Lilo, my friend crocodile’, the Spanish Oscar-winning actor for the first time he dared with a genre he hadn’t touched: the musical. And he also does it in a kind of movie where we don’t usually see it either, an adventure for children and for the whole family.

Like so many other actors and actresses before him, Bardem also satisfies the cliché when it comes to recognizing that he has accepted the project for his children, as he told us in our interview on the occasion of the premiere in Spain: “I come from the filming of ‘The Little Mermaid’ and ‘Ser los Ricardo’ below. I wanted to be home and I had to go to Atlanta to shoot this movie and I said ‘I don’t want to go sing with a crocodile right now’. But my kids told me ‘You have to do it because we want to see it, dad’. so i said yes“.

However, it was not the only motivation for him, as his character, the charlatan and showman Hector P. Valenti, allowed him to develop an artistic facet that until now he had not touched: “It scared me, but it also thrilled me. […] I entered a world unknown to me, that of choreography, great songs, musicals and open comedy “. He admits he’s very surprised that they thought of him for the role: “The first thing I asked these directors was ‘Why are you calling me and not Hugh Jackman?’. He is very handsome, he sings and dances like hell and apart from that he is a very good actor. And they said to me ‘Because the character just doesn’t know how to sing or dance very well.’ And I said ‘Ok, now I understand’ “. On the possibility of following in Jackman’s footsteps and doing a Broadway musical after this experience, Bardem is clear it’s not for him: “It seems impossible to me. I admire him a lot, but I don’t want to”.

In addition to professing his admiration for Jackman and ‘The Greatest Showman’ (“At home we have seen it about twenty times, we love it”), who shares composers with ‘Lilo’, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, Bardem told us about popular singer Shawn Mendes, who voices the crocodile in English (“When they told me that Lilo was going to be him, my voice closed. I said ‘Oh, what am I singing next to Shawn Mendes ?!’) and how family cinema continues to hold its own at the Spanish box office. Also, we didn’t want to miss the chance and asked him about “Dune: Part 2”: “I go to the shoot every day and I am impressed every day. This second will be spectacular, I spend all day pricking myself “he told us (we understand that he refers to pinch himself, pinch in English, to avoid misunderstanding, which is what has been in Hollywood for so long).

A very personal story for its directors

Behind ‘Lilo, my friend the crocodile’ we find the creative tandem formed by Will Speck and Josh Gordon, directors of films such as ‘Company Party’ or ‘A Small Change’, with whom we also had the opportunity to talk about their leap to cinema for families and how it was for them to adapt a story they grew up with, among other things. Speck and Gordon are also the creators of the Marvel animated series “Hit-Monkey”, whose second season is still on the air.. As to whether or not the series will return, we were told the following: “It’s not official yet. We can’t say anything. We hope there will be another season, but we’re not sure.”.

‘Lilo, my crocodile friend’ is a story of friendship, change and opportunity. When the Primm family (Constance Wu, Scoot McNairy, Winslow Fegley) move to New York, their son, Josh, struggles to adjust to a new life. everything changes when discover Lilo, a singing crocodile who likes to bathe, caviar and good music, who lives in the attic of her new home. The two become best friends, but when Lilo’s existence is threatened by her evil neighbor, Mr. Grumps (Brett Gelman), the Primms must team up with Lilo’s eccentric and charismatic owner, Hector P. Valenti (Bardem). to show it to the world. that change can be very positive and a singing crocodile can also be a family member.

‘Lilo, my crocodile friend’ is released exclusively in theaters on October 21.