Javier Bardem Says He Pitched Silva's Desire to 'Have Sex With Bond'

Javier Bardem has revealed that the charged sexuality of his "Skyfall" villain Raoul Silva was his own pitch to director Sam Mendes — a villain who, beyond destroying the world, "wants to have sex with Bond."

Speaking at a special Screen Talk at the BFI London Film Festival on Sunday, Bardem said Mendes embraced the proposal immediately.

What did Bardem propose for Silva?

"We went through the reading of it and [Mendes] was so open to what I was proposing to do with the sexuality of the character," Bardem said. "Because I said, 'Listen, all the villains have done everything to destroy the world, but what about something person? What about something like, besides destroying the world, he wants to have sex with Bond.'"

According to Bardem, Mendes' first response was "'Let me talk to the studio'… and the studio was very brave!"

The result is one of the most talked-about scenes in the franchise's history. Tied to a chair, Daniel Craig's Bond is unbuttoned by Silva, who tells him: "We are the last two rats. We can either eat each other, or eat everyone else." As his hands move down Bond's thighs, Silva offers "Well, there's a first time for everything" — to which Bond replies, "What makes you think this is my first time?"

Bardem said the scene "now lasts in the memory of the audience" because it "put Bond out of his place in a moment with a situation that he's not been to before — and the way he comes out of it is brilliant."

How did Judi Dench make him forget his lines?

The actor also admitted that during the prison cell scene with Craig — whom he called "adorable" — and Judi Dench as M ("what a gift!"), he blanked completely when the cameras rolled.

"Sam said action and then [Dench] comes in and nobody talks… I forgot the lines!," he said. When Mendes asked what was going on, Bardem replied: "I'm sorry, I just realized that I'm in a James Bond movie. Excuse me, I just saw Judi Dench as M and James Bond looking at me and thought 'Fuck, I'm in a James Bond movie!' Sorry, let's do it again!"

Where did Bardem's career begin?

The wide-ranging conversation traced a career of more than 65 screen credits. Bardem was the first Spanish actor to win the best actor Oscar, for "No Country for Old Men," holds a record five Goya leading actor awards, and is one of a select group to have won Venice's Volpi Cup twice.

He went back as far as his debut at age five in the 1974 Spanish TV series "El Picaro," which starred his mother, the late actress Pilar Bardem. "My mother was in the show and this kid got sick and she said, 'Don't worry. I have my kid,'" he recalled. In the scene, the young Bardem started to cry. "And [the director] said 'I love it, I love it, he's a dramatic actor!' And he was right!"

He joked that until his mother's death in 2021, he wondered for "many years" "where is my salary" for the appearance. "Still today, I don't know what she did with my money."

Bardem has two films screening at the London Film Festival, which runs until Oct. 17: Florian Zeller's "Bunker," alongside his wife Penélope Cruz, and Esteban Martinez' "The Beloved." The Screen Talk confirmed that, two decades into global stardom, his appetite for destabilizing his characters — and his audiences — remains undiminished.