James Bond baddie Javier Bardem gets Hollywood star Also on hand were Bond girls Berenice Marlohe and Naomie Harris, who co-star in the new Bond movie, which has won rave reviews. Bardem was the first Spaniard to be nominated for an Academy Award and the first to win one, for best supporting actor in the 2007 film "No Country for Old Men." Married to actress Penelope Cruz, he got his first English-speaking role in "Before Night Falls" by director Julian Schnabel in 2000, and has since made his mark firmly on the big screen internationally. "I'm really embarrassed... especially now that I have to speak English with all these people looking at me and taking pictures, hoping for me to say something brilliant, which I'm not gonna say," he said. Mendes recounted how Bardem was chosen for the Bond villain role. "I said well maybe, I thought, 'It's crazy, look at him, he looks fantastic,'" Mendes recalled. But I said OK, let's have a look, let's pre-test it. He came in a week later and not one person recognized him. He walked to the camera with different hair, different face, different eyes... he just looked to the camera and he was someone else. "And all that work is crystallized in one second, and that really is what it is to be a great actor," added the British director.