Quotes from Javier Bardem

I don't know how to drive a car.

When you know people are really at peace with who they are and what they do, they collaborate and want to help you to improve.

My truth - what I believe - is that there are no answers here and, if you are looking for answers, you'd better choose the question carefully.

I was emotionally and physically punched in the stomach. This is not a place where you go and deliver the lines and then you come back. It's kind of a life-changing experience. But it can't get better than this for any actor - this is like an opera.

There is no middle ground in Hollywood you're a failure or you're a success. That mentality is wild.

You want to do your job well so that people in the future say, 'OK, he's not bad, let's hire him.'

I think we are living in selfish times. I'm the first one to say that I'm the most selfish. We live in the so-called 'first world ' and we may be first in a lot of things like technology, but we are behind in empathy.

I was raised not to be afraid to show emotion or imagination.

Awards were made in Hollywood, in whatever the time it was created. They're to promote each other's movies. You give me an award, I give you an award and people will believe that we are great movies and they'll go to see them. It's still the same.

Bond is the longest-running franchise ever and there's a reason for that: they are action movies but they are also touched by current events without being political or too serious.

Now, there are so many movies, so many festivals, and so many awards going on, each judged with each other, like your work is worse than others and that's not fair. How can you tell what's best and what's worst from these awards? We're talking about art.

But I remember the moment when my father died. I wasn't a very committed Catholic beforehand, but when that happened it suddenly all felt so obvious: I now believe religion is our attempt to find an explanation, for us to feel more protected.

When you put gas in your car you are making a political statement, because you are supporting the empires that control and continue the destruction of some countries.

The personal thing is something I have never talked about. And I never will. That is prohibited. My job is public. But that's it. When you're not working, you don't have an obligation to be public.

Only unfulfilled love can be romantic

And the whole Oscar thing, that is just surreal: you spend months and months doing promotion, and then come back to reality with this golden thing in your hands. You put it in the office and then you just have to look at it sitting on the shelf. And, after about two weeks, you go: 'What is that doing there?'

Celebrity is very weird.

I have this problem with violence. I've only done one movie in almost 20 years where I killed people. It's called Perdita Durango. It's a Spanish movie. I'm very proud of the movie, but I felt weird doing that.

Awards were made in Hollywood, in whatever the time it was created. They're to promote each other's movies. You give me an award, I give you an award and people will believe that we are great movies and they'll go to see them. It's still the same.

I truly thank whoever's up there for giving me the opportunity to be loved.

There is no middle ground in Hollywood; you're a failure or you're a success. That mentality is wild.

This great imperialistic world called the United States has made us believe that an Oscar is the most important thing in the world for an actor. But if you think about it for five minutes you realise it can't be.

The only thing I can do is act, but it's not something I even feel comfortable doing. It costs me a lot, because I'm a shy person, even if I don't look it.

The award is important in order to bring people to the movie theater. That's the only principle meaning of any award.