"Penelope Cruz"
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Will, I know your camera's tilted a little down, and I'm noticing your legs. You're wearing some shorts today. Thank you. By the way, first of all, let me just say thank you. 40 degrees outside. Thank you so much. Why do you wear shorts? I appreciate the compliment. Have you not been outside the house to do drop-off at all today? Thanks again. I just want to say, for me, it's hard to take so much credit. Obviously, the man upstairs sculpted these babies, but... Wait, you live in a duplex? Yeah.

Welcome to Smartless. Wow. Smart. Less. Smart. Less. Smart. Less. Fucking Will, dude. That looks badass.

Doesn't that look good? You can't hear us yet. God damn. And we have Will Audio. Shawnee joining. Shawnee joining. Willie, I think that looks fucking badass. Do you? Yeah, I think we can go with that. Yeah, I think it looks great. We are rolling. Surprise guests, give us a little clap if you don't mind. All right, we're rolling. There we go. Jewelry. Have fun. I might do it. I was doing a little test for this new thing I'm doing.

And I might do it. I might do it. I might keep it. I don't know. I think that's the winner right there. Mate. Jesus. Look at the fucking bone structure. How do you get fucking bone structure with a haircut? I don't know, man. I guess it's just, hang on, I looked at it before. Genetics. Genetics. Sorry. That's really good.

Fucking great. Really good. I love seeing you, JB, in the full vest, in the down vest this morning. Just coming off the slopes. Oh, no. This is just carpool drop-off or whatever you call it, school drop-off. What are these kids? What are my kids' names?

Yeah, I know. What's the young one? Tell me the young one's name. Maple's the name. That's Maple. That's your drop-off zip-up? Fresh back from drop-off, yeah. This is post-drop-off, pre-shower, pre-G4 handsome golf outfit. Oh, so you do have golf today. So you're going to take a shower before? I will be taking a shower, yes, getting it all nice and powder dry.

You know, our buddy Skip Bronson saw him yesterday swinging it over there. He claimed that we're the visor twins.

Because you and I... I do like a visor. Yeah. I like a visor because I feel like this big, dumb head of crazy hair can't fit into a cap nowadays. I like your new look, by the way. We were talking about it, Jay. Your new look is sort of rugged, right? They were both trying on some new looks for parts coming up. I'm supposed to be looking like an ex-drummer, drug addict loser, and I'm really kind of nailing it with this stupid long hair and facial hair. I look like I'm playing a hooligan, like a soccer hooligan. Yeah, yeah.

What do I look like I'm playing? You look like you're playing like a... Be nice, Will. Like a 53-year-old Illinois house husband. Yeah, it's a family after-school special about a 50-year-old that's going back to elementary school because he just didn't get fifth grade right. And body swaps. There's going to be a body swap, right? I love a body swap. JB's done a body swap. He's got a lunch pail. Yeah, I did a body swap movie. Me and Ryan Reynolds pissed into a magic fountain. Yeah.

And you know what happens. And then you decided to do a movie together? What happened? Oh, Will. This guy, he's really on me today. He's getting me, huh? Sean, you got some texts coming through, Sean? You want to just take care of that? No, I'm trying to find the photo of me with my shaved head. I can't find it. Are you advertising for Brentwood Country Mart? What is that? What are you just saying? This is where I like to eat most?

Hey, welcome back to Hashtag Relatable. This week we're going over markets. Anybody can go to the Brentwood Country Mart. It's fantastic. Is that their tagline? It's fantastic? Boy, they didn't put a lot of thought into that. It's terrific. It is terrific. It's dynamite. It is very good. All right, Will, what do you got today? I want to speak about dynamite because this, our guest today is nothing. Is dynamite?

Well, nothing short of dynamite. Let me just say that much, and I'll tell you why. She's explosive. We do know it's a she. I heard a giggle, and I heard some jewelry on the clap. Oh, you did? Yeah, I heard a gig. Yep. You heard a gig, too? Mm-hmm. Now, where is everybody hearing all these gigs? Well, we've got actual headphones on. I do, too, but... You've got snazzy earbuds. I don't know, man. I just... I don't know how I missed the gig anyway. I, um... This is something...

Yeah, take your time. Well, I was just going to say, so we get a lot of... Oh, there. Look at that. She's got to get to it. She is ready. She's a singer. She's ready. I'll tell you why she's ready. Because this is somebody who's got... You know, we've had award-winning actors and actresses and performers and directors. But imagine being nominated for four Academy Awards and winning one. Imagine it. Imagine being nominated for two BAFTAs and winning one. Imagine being nominated for... God damn.

Emmy, four Golden Globes, five SAG Awards. Yeah. Are you starting to get what I'm throwing down, you guys? Yeah. Are you starting to get that? Because this person has done some of the greatest, biggest films of all time, some of the most cool, independent films, thought-provoking films. She's done it all. She is somebody that I have admired for a long time, me and the rest of the world. I don't know how else to say other than to say, guys...

It's Penelope Cruz.

Wow. Can you believe it? I mean, this is royalty. Look at her go. Hi. What an amazing presentation. I don't think I deserve that, but thank you so much. Oh my gosh. It's absolutely true. Hello. All of it's true. Nice to meet you. Good morning. Nice to meet you too. Nice to meet you. Thank you for joining us. Where do we, where do we, we're not in your bedroom. We're in a hotel room. Are we not?

Where are we? This is actually not my bedroom. This is a room where they brought me to do the interview.

Where are you? You're doing some press? We are in a hotel for a couple of days here in L.A. Yeah. And going back home soon. She's doing, Penelope, and correct me if I'm wrong, you're here doing press for Ferrari, your new film that you've done with Michael Mann. Is that true? Yes, true. Which is fantastic. And we had the pleasure of meeting one of your co-stars, Adam Driver, and we're very excited for Ferrari. Yeah, I can't wait.

But I'm really excited to talk to you, Penelope, about just what an incredibly diverse career that you've had, that you've carved out.

And I kind of want to touch on something. I'm so excited you're here, by the way. -I want to talk about-- -This is wild. There's a story that I picked up on. I saw an interview you did with Terry Gross on Fresh Air, and it really piqued my interest. And guys, I don't know if you know this, and I'd love for you to speak to this. You talk about you were a big fan of Pedro Almodovar, right? -Yes. -Fantastic fan, the great Spanish filmmaker.

And you would tell your friends, you were putting yourself in a position to see him. You're not necessarily waiting outside his bedroom.

but you would go to restaurants. Also, also I did. But you did wait outside his house. That's something I remember. Yes, a couple of times. Yeah, me too. A couple of times and then would go to bars and restaurants and wait and your friends thought you were insane and you said, believe me, I have this connection and it will happen. Can you talk to us a little bit about that? Yes. What is that? I know for a lot of people it can sound weird and also it sounded crazy to him when I told him for the first few years he didn't believe me and then a lot of things like that started to happen between him and I.

And I think by now, like 30 years later, he believes me. We have a very special connection. And I was a huge fan of his work. You know, I didn't have a theater, a cinema near where we lived because we lived outside Madrid. And I developed love for movies and different actresses and directors through him.

The Betamax machine that my father and my mother bought when I was like a kid. You remember how heavy and big the Betamax was? So I asked them to give me a copy of the...

the cards for the video store. And I was there every afternoon after school and after my homework and my dance classes. What I wanted to do is be alone and watch a movie. If I liked a movie, I would watch it 20 times in a row, like really study that film. And that's how I discovered Pedro and Spielberg and Scorsese and Billy Wilder. So what were some of those movies that you would watch 20 times, that you loved, loved, loved as a kid? I mean...

I always knew I wanted to act, but I had no... Apart from the couple of hours that I spent doing classical ballet that was very hardcore, but at the same time it was a way of acting and a way to release that need that I had of visiting and...

investigating different ways of being and different realities, I think I would have been very damaged if I didn't have that. But then I discovered that that was like a window to the world, you know? Like I could dream about what that life would be like or this or that and put yourself in somebody else's shoes. And I felt like this is what I want to do in my life. I don't know how. I didn't know anybody related to...

to the business, anybody that could make a living out of something related to arts. When I said that to my parents, it was like saying, I want to be an astronaut. It was very surreal for them. I just appreciate that they didn't invalidate me. They didn't laugh. They said, you can try if that's what you want. We'll pay your dance classes and then your theater classes, but have a plan B because probably this won't work. So...

Through that Betamax machine, I started planning. But I mean, imagine that. I mean, you say that, right. It's like saying to your parents, I want to go live on the moon. You grew up in a small town outside of Madrid. You don't even have a theater. And all your connection to films is through renting Betamax tapes. Yes. But you have this dream, and lots of people have dreams that they, I want to do this, I want to do that.

But the follow through is so precise to the point that you're like, you identify... Well, Sean had asked, like, what were the films that really inspired you? And I do want to get to that. But you identify specifically as you get older that you know that you want to connect to Pedro. Yes. And that you're like...

the follow through and like you said for some people it might seem weird but you knew that there was something there you thought you were pretty confident that like once he meets me I know we're gonna have a connection he seems like the kind of guy I would get along with and you just put yourself in front of him yeah not because I thought I was good just because I thought that he saw the world in a very similar way to the way that I saw it since I was a little girl and

And actually I got into one of the sets without permission when I was 14 and he was doing... No, when I was like 15, 16, he was doing high heels and...

And he was shooting with Victoria Abril, one of my favorite actresses. And I just walked in. Nobody stopped me. I sat very close to the monitor. Nobody said anything. And he looked at me and I said, oh, my God, he's going to say something. He just looked at me for a few seconds. Like, do I know you? We know each other. That was enough for me for that day to be able to spy, you know, and be there for a couple of hours. But then when...

Because he was the one, like you said before, such a specific dream. He was the one that I wanted to meet, to thank and to be able to maybe one day work with him. So when I did my first two movies, I got that phone call. My two first movies were very different from each other, Belle Époque and Jamón, Jamón. And I was very lucky to have that presentation card.

Because the characters were like day and night. And that was important to start that way. And somebody said to me, Almodovar is on the phone. And I was drawing my hair, preparing for classes. And I said, yeah, right.

Almodovar is on the phone. And it took me like five minutes to react because I thought, how can... Is it for real that dreams so specific can become a reality? And he was there and his voice was like, oh, this old friend that I haven't seen for a long time. And the connection was instant. I lied to him about my age.

We did the casting for the movie. It was not appropriate for my age, the movie. So the casting was just a conversation about like, really, how old are you? I know you are lying to me. So I said, yeah, actually, yes, I'm...

I'm like at that point, I think 18. He said, this character has to be at least 25 or 30, but I will write a character for you in my next, in my next film. And he did. Jesus. And this is. Imagine getting that call, Sean, it would be like you, if they, if they're like, Sean, Kraft macaroni and cheese is on the phone. And you'd be like, no way. Dreams come true. Kraft macaroni and cheese is not on the phone. Like if you have a specific dream. He loves food. Penelope. Penelope.

Me too. So Penelope, what about when you filled him in on this story that you've been following him around? Was he charmed by that? Did he laugh? Did he remember you being at the monitor when you were 15? No, not that. But then I told him, look, one time at the cinema, I told my friends that I was going to find you that day. And it was just a random cinema by the time that I was able to go to the cinema alone when I was older.

And my friend couldn't believe it because by the end of the movie, we came out and he was there in the street. And a lot of things like that. At the beginning, he was looking at me like, yeah, right. Okay, you are very young and you are believing all this. But now he does. You can ask him and now he does these things.

Things happen between him and I. That's cool. So how many films have you done with him now? Seven. And I hope many more. I just talked to him this morning. Wow, that's amazing. He's one of the greatest. He's one of the loves of my life. He's much more than a director I work with. He's family. Sure, of course. He's hilarious. And you have to invite him.

Yeah. He would make you laugh so much. It would be like a dream come true. He's one of the great directors and he's one of the great imaginations, one of the great storytellers. And the guys know I don't use that term lightly. Wow. But before you worked with him, you had done two films, right? Before you worked with Pedro. Yeah. What was it like at that point? What were the opportunities like in Spain for you at that point?

in the Spanish film industry? Was there a lot going on? Was it robust? Was it difficult? It was like a miracle that I found my agent. When I found my agent, she's now 83, and we've been together since...

since I was 14, 15. The first time I went to see her, she sent me home. She said, what are you doing here? You're too young. Please go away. I came back the week after. She said the same thing to me. I came back the week after. And then I asked her to let me do an improv where I could just play somebody that was very angry. And in my improv, I was actually an actress that was talking about her dreams. I was asking for an opportunity, even if I was young.

And then I was the only person that she picked that year to be represented. And out of 300 people and we're still together, you know, and I love her so much. She started to send me to castings and to my surprise, I got a yes as an answer. I could not believe it. I mean, it was...

Penelope, all the dreams that you had about, I hope it happens, I want to meet Pedro, I want my career to take off, I want to...

All the dreams you had, all the aspirations that you had, you now, I would assume, have them even bigger than you even dreamed back then. Is it what you thought it would be? What's your favorite part about what has become and what part of it did you not anticipate coming and you could kind of do without? That part is... I didn't think it would be...

bad like that. What's your favorite part? What's your least favorite part? My favorite part about this profession and the one that gives me a real happiness that can last and that is based on hard work and the values that I think my parents taught me

is the part that you are new each time you are starting from zero. You never get to a place where you feel you have things under control. You are like a constant student. You're never going to do the same role twice. Well, maybe you will, but that's a different story. But you are going to be challenged each time and have fear each time.

And I feel like we could have this conversation when I'm 90 and I would still feel the same way. And I feel that's good for me. It's good for my mental health. It keeps me sane. It keeps me humble because it's about the learning process. It's about how we really are just one more piece of the puzzle when we are on the set. We cannot do this work alone. And this is...

amazing about my profession and I realized is what attracted me to it from day one. The thing that I was surprised is that there was the element of attraction to fame when I was a teenager. I thought like, wow, like really? Me? They are saying this or that? So you get kind of a dopamine high from it, especially if you are very young, but that doesn't last. That goes away. And if you are evolving,

And in a good way, and you have a family around you that is going to be telling you the truth and cutting all the bullshit. And on top of that, you become a mother when, of course, you will never see yourself as the first of the line ever again. The priorities change.

will change immediately for the rest of your life. You're not the number one on the call sheet at home. You know what I mean? Never, but for the rest of my life, I will never be and I don't want to. And that's like the biggest amount of happiness in my life comes from that. And I realized that because I started so young. Then when I was like 20-something, I had already gone through a lot of like...

emotions related to that, to, oh, what is it to get that attention? And one thing is to get like a feeling of satisfaction if you're getting a good review or recognition from your peers because you've worked on something and you were so scared about it and you have connected. And that is a real thing. Okay. But the other thing that I was like flipping out about when I was, I don't know, 17, 18, 19,

It doesn't last long. And those years I was surprised. So how come I don't feel the same thing as I felt three years ago? That doesn't last forever? No, it lasts very little. Like a friend of mine, a psychiatrist friend of mine was saying, it's actually one...

Being very exposed to fame at a very young age is one of the things that can put you on higher risk for depression. And it makes total sense because at the end of the day, it's like when you are super addicted to a video game or gambling, it's like this high that will have a dramatic drop. And it's just dopamine. And it is like that. Yeah. And we will be right back.

All right, back to the show. I think you put it in the right place when I remember telling my kids, I have three boys and a stepson, so four boys in the house. It's crazy. And I remember saying when my older boys were younger, sort of six, seven, and people want to take photos or whatever when you're out. And I remember explaining that to them. And it was through explaining to them the idea of these people don't know me.

They think they do. They want my picture because they think something else. And when I said it out loud and put it in the right place, it changed everything for me once I actually said it out loud. And it put it in a place that was much more acceptable and it didn't, it stopped affecting, you know, I've said this many times, as long as you don't,

you know, peg your happiness to how other people think about you, then you'll be okay. And you can kind of keep that right-sized. -You know what I mean? - Yeah. Keep it in the right place. And I was also thinking about something else you said, Penelope, which is interesting, and I don't know, I'm gonna open this up to everybody, really. You're talking about staying a student.

And I've been thinking so much more in the last couple of years now that I'm 53. I mean, I could play 48, but... Yeah, easily. Thank you. No, 40. Sure, maybe 40. Thank you. I really appreciate it. But one of the things I've been thinking about is this idea of staying... I was saying to somebody, I want to stay in the student section of life, not just in my work. I want to really feel... I don't want to be an expert. And, you know, like all of us, I can...

talk like an expert sometimes about stuff and have a lot of conviction. It's so important in this life to stay in the student section, I think. Don't you? I agree. I agree. And I feel like when you have kids, immediately you are put in that place forever because it's such a lesson every day and so much wisdom that comes from just the total honesty that all the kids have.

Yeah, they don't care. It's a great reminder that you know nothing until you learn it. You get to watch them learn.

learn things or get experience with things for the very first time. And we forget that moment for us. For instance, somebody sent us a gift yesterday and there was like a cassette tape in it. One of those old, you know, audio cassette tapes. And my 12 year old daughter said, what's this? And I said, well, that's a cassette. She said, a cassette. What's a cassette? I said, no way. Well, it's a

I mean, how do you describe what a cassette is? I said, what is that? - The same thing happened to me last month and I was shocked. - She didn't know how to open up that cassette box, that clear see-through cassette box. - And you said, this is what daddy used to put in his Scirocco. - Exactly. I said, I used to have hundreds of these. These are what albums used to be on. She goes, really? There's music on this? I said, yeah. I said, open it up and put it in.

It took her five minutes. How did you have a thing to put on? There was a little like a Walkman that came with the gift. No way. And it took her five minutes to open up. I finally had to take it from her. I said, let me show you how to open. She almost broke it. She didn't know how to open up a clear. Anyway. So yeah, it's a great reminder that you just don't realize what you don't know.

if you don't keep up your radar that you're willing to learn. Also, age helps. Age helps not giving a shit. Yeah. Right? The older you get, you're just like, I'm too tired and old to care. Well, you maybe start caring about things that are actually important and not the other things that are related about how you are perceived. For sure. By people that you don't know, which is different than...

Of course, if you have a job like the one that we have, at the end of the day, you are doing that to try to move energy in people. We make movies for that reason, not to change the world, but you want to connect with people. I want to go back to ballet. I had no idea about ballet. That's crazy. How many years did you take ballet? Like 17. 17 years. Do you still dance? Yeah.

Well, when I get the chance to... I might do a musical soon again. Nine, you were great in Nine. Thank you. I loved making that movie and I went back to dancing for like six months or something like that. So I'm always looking for reasons to go back. That's great. Wow, so you don't have...

The wear and tear on a person's body of 17 years of being on your toes. Yeah. Like, do you have any kind of, like... Your toes still hurt? Yeah. No, but, I mean, I got used to that. You know, when you are bleeding and your nails are, like...

You lose them. They get really dark and then they fall off and you have to keep dancing and smiling. And the discipline that it gives you, it helped me a lot because I started to work as an actress so young and I had the discipline from that that was so much harder than anything I have done. I'm sure.

I can't believe it. You know, you talked a little bit about, sort of just to swing back to like what's important and stuff. So both you and your partner are film actors and actors at the highest level and very much in demand. You've made lots of films. And yet now you've started a family. And I presume that you still live in Spain, yeah? Or that you moved back. Like you spent very many years where you were doing like, it seemed like,

You did so many films, and I listed off all the awards and nominations. And yet, now, do you find yourself...

Have you put that in a different place now? Like now that you've moved and you live in Europe and you don't live here in Los Angeles and you've kind of, do you feel that you've been able to carve out a kind of a different life? Very different. Very different. Where the total priority, the number one priority is the family. Also most of my family, mom and sisters and most of them are there in Spain. My brother and nephew are here and in LA and I miss them so much.

But, I mean, life always brings us here, like maybe in the summer, Christmas or both, and come here for work. And I lived here for 15 years in LA and I loved it. But we just wanted to be there raising the children because family is very important for us. Yeah, of course. What's the atmosphere like there where you live in Spain with respect to holidays?

Hollywood and the media and fame and paparazzi and all that kind of stuff. Can you live a very sort of normal, in quotes, life there as opposed to here? Yes. Oh, good. Well, when I was here, I mean, there was a way to do it also. I mean, it depends what kind of place you go to. You know how it is. Mm-hmm.

And there I can do everything. I can go to school, go to the supermarket, go to a public gym, go to everywhere, everywhere. And this is what I want. I could not give up having a normal life. Wait, you can go to a public gym? Of course. Yeah.

I can go everywhere. And even if they do recognize you, do they treat celebrity with such reverence there like they do here? I think it's a little too big here. No, I think it's not a surprise to see us there. And also...

everything ends up being close to the area where I grew up. And it feels like if you knew all your neighbors, you know, it feels very easy going and people are very nice. And is Javier from the same area?

He was actually born in Canary Islands, but he was raised more in the city and I was raised more out of Madrid. But also in LA, I had no problems where I lived here. And I feel like it's more like choosing where you go to. If you're going to go to a place looking for attention or you go to a place where you can...

Leave your name. It's the vibe you put out too, right? And also what you wear too. Like if you look all great and fabulous or if you look like you're trying to hide with a hat and big glasses, people, you stand out like a sore thumb. Yeah, but if you just like, there's no hiding whatsoever. It's just a little sweatshirt or something. Well, we had a guest on, one of our guests who's a friend of the show, I won't name him, but he had, years ago, I'd gone to his house. One of the biggest film actors on the planet. And we went to his house and he said-

And I was giving him a lift home. And we get to his gate that was barely like a gate. And then he said, just punch in the code. I said, what's the code for the 2468? I said, come on, man. No, 2468. And then you could walk around it if you want. We get up to his house and we walk in and the front door is open. And I said, dude, what are you doing? You're crazy. I mean, this is guys like that. And he goes, I don't live like a prisoner.

Right. And if I put that vibe out in the world... Yeah, yeah, it's true. It's true. Probably take less attention like that. I totally, by the way, totally agree. I'm like, if somebody's going to get me, they're going to get me. Well, why do you have that sign that says Sean Hayes lives here in front of your house? Yeah, but I mean, he's behind some hedges. Wait, listen, Penelope, before we go any further, I want to ask you, and this is a tough question, and you can feel free to not answer it. We can always cut it out. Real Madrid or Atlético Madrid? Real Madrid.

You know what? You don't care. I know that. No, no. I mean, I do because that's another thing that changes when you are a mother and suddenly you see they like football. But then you start loving football too. And I have a family that is from Atletico, family from Barcelona, club family from Real Madrid. And

I think they're amazing teams, but I am loving everything more Real Madrid. What can I say? Very, very good. I love, I'm a huge football fan and I'm obsessed and actually like both those teams as well. They have great players. We're recording this right around the holiday season. And are you a big fan?

holiday fan? Do you love Christmas or I don't know what you guys celebrate. Do you guys go skiing? Do you like the beach instead? It's just about being with the family and since I have my kids, I really see I get to experience again Christmas like when I was little and it's like having a second chance, like a

to experience it, to experience that magic. And it's incredible. I love it again so much. For a few years, it was just like one more part of the year. But now it's a big deal. It's become a big deal. My three-year-old this morning, he was saying that he wanted to get this truck. It was like a crane thing. And I said, okay, well, we'll see if Santa comes. And he goes, no, you buy it. And I said, no, no, no. We're going to see if Santa goes. Dada, you buy it.

But how old? How old is he? He's three and a half. Yeah. Now, what do you think is too old for him?

to be still in the Santa world. I'm saying this gently because I don't know how young our listeners are. I feel it's when they're ready. Yeah, when they're ready. When they're ready, when they're ready, and maybe your son is ready now. I know, does it happen? It's a little shocking, but when they're ready, they're going to ask in a different way. He doesn't think that I'm Santa. No, no, no. He's just saying that he doesn't want to wait for Santa. Look at this guy. Look at this guy.

Adorable. Was he on the potty there? I love it. He looks very excited about his movement. Daddy, look. Believe me, he's... I asked him this morning also, I'm not going to get to it in the week, but I asked him, who's the boss? And he said, me.

I said, you're not the boss. Anyway. I remember in Christmas, like my mom used to get us so much more in debt than we already were. Christmas was like the number one thing in her life. She would max out her credit cards and mortgage the house just so we could have presents. And as I got older, I'm like,

I don't know if this is the greatest business model for our home. Like, you're leaving us with another gift too, Mom. That's debt. Yeah. Well, by the way, it's a very sort of, it's very much symbolic of like sort of the age that we live in. You watch these ads now on TV and they're all like,

everybody's going to go to one of these big box stores and they're like, well, dad needs a CD player. My son needs a new big screen TV. And I'm like, who, what kind of money do people have that they're spending? Like, you know what I mean? Like they're having these huge, it seems crazy. Anyway, I don't want to. I also remember really quick, just while we're on the subject, my mom constantly with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth, constantly 24 hours a day, filling the stockings by the fire and then by the tree that was real with her lit cigarette, just putting stuff under the tree. That was my dad.

Really? Really? Yeah, smoking in the house and doctors telling him, you have to quit. And he was saying to us, this is a complot of the family. It's not true that I have to quit. You are all talking to the doctor. What a character. How is the smoking in Europe? There's still a lot of smokers in Europe, correct? Much less, much less. I mean, I grew up in a...

spending time every day in a hair salon because my mom owned a hair salon. Everyone was smoking in front of all the kids. The combination of that plus all the toxicity of all the products. Can you imagine? You can smoke in the elevator over in Europe. There's ashtrays in the elevators.

When? Yeah, when I was in Paris a couple years ago, there were still ashtrays in the elevators. I don't know. I think it's like now... No, it's not true. No, of course not. Not at all. No, no, no. Wait a second. Penelope, how many languages do you know? Everyone that lives in Europe knows like five languages. Well, I speak...

Italian, Spanish, English with this accent that I don't know when I will get rid of. And French? And I'm Petit Péoui.

Okay. I can try. Yes, me too. My vocabulary is limited. It's not French Canadian, by the way. How dare you? So, Penelope, you know, obviously I don't know you. It's such a pleasure to meet you. It's so nice you're doing the show. Thank you. I love it. This is so much fun. I could be here for five hours straight. Okay, great. Well, we have two minutes. So, no, I'm kidding.

Where are you going? No, we... No, um... Sean, believe me, Sean has eight hours that he needs to fill today. So this is perfect. If you could just stick around until seven tonight. No, um, it seems like, you know, there's certain points in my life that I can remember changed me and I grew from. Oh, I love that. You can announce it?

That was the best. That's our first ever sneeze. I love that. Sometimes I sneeze eight times in a row. Oh, my God. I hope not. It's always three. It's going to happen. I did it. I did it today. I did it this morning, too. I think it's going around. I sneezed. What about people who muffle their sneezes? It's my favorite thing to do. And people that stifle them. I can't. Just let it out. You're proud of yourself. One of the greatest releases ever. Yeah, that has to be bad for you.

Yeah, sneeze edging is no good. All right, keep going, Sean. Sean, keep going. My thing was there's certain points in my life that I can recall changed me, where I grew from them, where I learned. Fill in joke here. There were experiences that made me grow up quickly.

and realize and see things differently. And you seem like not again, not knowing you seem like you have an amazing no bullshit meter like you're... Oh, thank you. You can call it out right away. Were there certain moments in your life that taught you that that you can remember? You're like, you know what, because of this experience, I have now changed. I'm going to call you on that now. So it doesn't happen to me again. Yes.

A few things, like crucial moments in my life that I remember that were like a turning point in terms of like, oh, actually, you can...

respect yourself that much and it's okay no and it's not just okay I feel so much happier and I moments like this are I feel like if you get to live a long life those things you remember before you go I'm sure yeah do you remember what some of those are or those moments if you want to share them for example working with Michael I was very interesting that way because he's very very tough

And I loved... We didn't have a lot of free time there. We were working really hard nonstop. But sometimes if we had 10 minutes in between shots, I just wanted to talk to him about...

Without calling it that in front of him, but it was about his toughness, you know, about the reasons why he has no problem saying no, which is sometimes harder for me. And he said, he answered something so brilliant. He said, you know, there is no free lunch.

There is so much in that answer that I needed to hear. There's no free lunch? That advice. Yeah, there is no free lunch. Meaning like if... I don't want to give a specific example, but there are times in your life when you know you have to say no to something and so many justifications and all, but this, but that will make you say yes. You don't want to hurt somebody's feelings. You don't want to... No, no, no. It's too complicated. Right.

But you feel like what's the right thing to do? And he's very honest that way and honest.

has no problem saying... And then you're like, oh, I didn't know that it's okay for me to say no. Yeah. Well, that's a boundary thing, right? It's a boundary thing. Meaning there is no freelance. If you don't say no when you know you have to and you accumulate too many of those, one day you're going to explode. I know because I had to learn that too. Well, same here. And JB, Sean, you and I talked about with JB. Within the last year, Jason, I said to you,

I really respect your ability to draw boundaries for yourself. You've gotten... You're really good. You really set a good example for me. I think it took me to get older to understand. And it is, Penelope, like you say, when you start to be able to say no or to draw a boundary and say, this is my boundary...

It's so freeing because you feel you take a little bit of power back and you're able to go like, yeah, that's not okay for me. Yeah. You know? It's very difficult to learn that. Yeah. Also, as an actor, actress starting very young, when you depend on others to say yes to you to work and then you realize that, oh, maybe I have to say no, for example, to this project. And how can I...

myself to say no to that. That's also a huge lesson. Thank you for saying that, Will, but one of the things that I worry about is that I just get meaner or that people will think, oh, well, he's being mean. You do. Right, or he's...

He's crankier. And while that might be the case, to compensate for that, I have expanded my nice side. When there are moments that I feel like I should be nicer or I should be generous in this moment or do that thing, I end up doing more of those things and being nicer when it is time to be nice. I've seen you making the effort lately. I swear to God.

I'm not kidding. It's not about the no. It's about how you say the no. Yeah. How you say it and what you're saying, Jason, is you're just more honest. Yeah. And that doesn't make you meaner. You're just more honest because behind a lot of yeses that you don't want to say, there is a...

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. There is no way. I learned that lesson and I'm not going back to where I was. By the way, we are still owed seven more sneezes. Yeah. I know, but it's not happening. We'll wait. We'll be right back. And now back to the show.

One of our friends gave us a good tip. They said, because, you know, someone will ask you, hey, you know, next month, would you mind coming over to my place and helping me out with such and such? You might say, sure, yeah, you know, because it's a month away. And then the day comes, and you're like, oh, I can't believe I said yes to that. This person said, here's what you do. You have to imagine that it's for tomorrow.

If you don't want to do something tomorrow, say no today. You just imagine that it's tomorrow. If you don't want to do it tomorrow, then go ahead and say no today. Yeah. And you replace it with tomorrow. It's kind of a good... I want to ask you, this is going to be sort of a veering way off topic, but... It's going to ask you to do something in a few months and just pretend it's tomorrow. I'm just going to say no. No, no.

Okay. Where's Lesi? Okay. It's a bag with 30 million euros in it, but I guess no. Listen, no, I was going to ask you about, I love Madrid. I've been there a few times. I think it's really such a phenomenal city. I really love Spain and...

One of my great nights that I had in Madrid was with an old friend of mine who lives there. He's lived there for 20, 25 years. Different business. Finance. Good guy to know. But he took me out. We went for drinks. Then we went to an Atletico Madrid game. And then we went for dinner. It was a Sunday night.

And we sat down for dinner at about 11 p.m. Oh, God, I'm out. And it was just starting to fill up. And the families, it was that very famous restaurant where everybody goes. I forget what it's called, but it's a very sort of fancy. And it was like, and I know that like, I don't know if the prince or the king still goes there, but he used to. It was like one of those. And the families would come in, 10 people in the family, the kids, everybody. I left at 1 o'clock, so I had an early flight the next day. And I'm like, what?

I can't believe that. Why is that? Why is it always so late? It just sounds like a bunch of acid reflux. That was my schedule before, before having a family. You know, it was like normal to go to dinner at 10 with your friends, with family. But not, I mean, the schools in Spain start like early, like here, like around 8.30 or 8.00.

and you can have that schedule. Maybe sometimes in the weekend, but that's more for single people. Is Spain like the other country? I've never been to Spain and I want to go really bad. You've never been? I want to go. Is that the country or the side of the world that doesn't get dark until like 10 or 11 at night or something like that? No, you got to go north under that. In the summer, we have light until 10. No way. In the summer, we do.

But the further north you go, Sean, the lighter it stays. This is so... I'm so sorry. Yeah, Penelope, we're sorry. This is a little bit of a charity hire. No, no. Yeah, he wanted to get into radio. He wants to experience the light of Madrid in the summer. So, Penelope, now here you are. You're here in America and you're doing all this stuff for Ferrari, which is phenomenal. First of all, Michael Mann, of course, one of the all-time great directors. Yeah.

But you're here, you're in America, and you're doing all the stuff that goes with that. Yeah, this is what I love. The press tour, which includes talking to us, I imagine. But how...

What is that like for you? Like, how do you sort of gear up for that with your life and everything that's going on with the kids? And you got to go like, all right, I got to go do all the junkets. Turn it on. I got it. Yeah, I got it. Do you like that stuff or is it okay? As you know, it's part of it. And I just do like very short trips. Like I went to New York for one day for the Gotham Awards and then back home and then London one day and a half back home. Now we're here for a couple of days. Yeah.

I'd rather do it like this, you know, than putting together a long trip. Ideally, would you do one job a year or two jobs a year? That changed a lot. I used to do like four movies per year and travel nonstop. And now I do like one per year. And if they're not too long, I can do one in Madrid while the school is happening. Maybe we do that one and one in the summer so we can travel all together. And this is like the...

I feel very privileged and very lucky to be able to do it that way because I feel like all of those years working so hard have given me the opportunity to be able to choose what I want to do now and be a little bit like the owner more or less of my own schedule. Even if you know how things always change, if they tell you you're going to start in March, probably you're going to start a month later. But even like...

Counting with that and knowing that that will always be the nature of our profession. Feeling like I kind of own a big part of my time.

It's such a blessing. Yeah. It's such a blessing because like I told you before, my priority is raising my children. And I feel so lucky that I can combine that with my work. Yeah, it's so cool to be able to shift that perspective from when you're younger and you're like you were saying, like you're trying to make a mark. You're trying to do as much stuff as you can. You want to work with directors. You want to work on different projects. And then you get older and you're like,

Yeah, that stuff's not as important to me anymore. I mean, it's a luxury, obviously, but... Yeah, it is. It is. I mean, I don't take it for granted. And I also still love so much, like, preparing a character, the research process and being on the set and the creativity and how that makes me feel, like, searching for answers and...

I still feel like the little girl that was watching the Betamax. What was your first Hollywood film? What was your first big... It was Stephen Frears, a movie called High Low Country, and I was obsessed with him because of the grifters and Dangerous Liaison. So that was also a phone call that made me so happy.

Can I ask you a dorky actor question? Because you're such a great actor. You're very... You too. Thank you so much. No, no, you really are. I find myself when I watch you play a character, I'm leaning in, I'm trying to read your mind. It's great. You don't help the audience. You're very internal and that's my favorite kind. But I think sometimes that it would be hard for...

for me to manage that kind of subtlety and,

If I if with an accent, I wonder if I would be is a challenge Is it easier for you when you're playing a character that's speaking Spanish versus English because because oftentimes the difference between a good performance and a bad performance will be in the way in which lines are said in the meter and what like you can say I love you a million different ways and and an accent can change what an intention sounds like I love you. I love you. I

I love you. And oftentimes an accent is that. We're going to go a different way. The rhythm of something. Do you have to manage that at all? Do you even think about it? I think about it a lot because I feel very lucky that I'm able to do movies in four languages and a lot of different accents. For example, with the Spanish language, a lot of different accents. And I feel like sometimes...

I don't want to call it a disadvantage to have an accent because at the end of the day, for me in my career, it has given me more advantages than the opposite because it has opened so many doors to be able to play so many different nationalities. And I don't know that I could now get to play a character that has English as her first language. Maybe someday we could get to that. But if...

Would I change that by not being able to play an Italian or French or all the characters that I can play in English that can be from so many nationalities? But like I said, maybe English is not their first language. When I'm working in Spanish, of course, there's going to be like a freedom that you're not going to have when you are working in a different language. But it's not always that way because sometimes when...

When I'm working with a different language or accent, I don't hear myself. I don't recognize myself. And that already gives me a space, a distance between myself to create somebody new that actually is very helpful for me. So, I mean, I keep working. I'm always with a dialect coach in my life. Lately, I work a lot with Tim Monick, who is...

I feel like I've heard of him. It's incredible. And I've had so many teachers for all different languages and accents or go to the place and spend time there.

- And you feel like you have as much control over your intention when you're reading a line, even though you might be working with an accent versus the kind of control you have when you're working in Spanish. You feel like it's equal enough? - I feel like if I put a lot, a lot of time into it so that I get to a place where I don't have to be thinking about it, I will have the advantages of having that distance between myself,

and the way that character speaks and not recognizing myself when I speak. And I enjoy that very much. Yeah, that makes sense. But for example, I'm making a movie in the spring in English and I start to work now in January and it's going to be like every day, putting many hours into it.

So that I don't have to be thinking about it when I'm there. So you just can't... Yeah. So it becomes part of you. And that character would have an American accent or a Spanish accent? No. He would have a Spanish accent, but we want it to be always as clear as possible. And just so there's no gap there, so that it's much more immediate is what you're saying. Yeah, but the gap that is the accent or acting in another language sometimes...

helps so much to create that distance and allows you to enter a different person. Yeah. Can I ask you, when you won, I think it was 2008 maybe, when you won Academy Award for Vicky Cristina Barcelona, right? Is that 2008? Something like that. I think it was 2008. Maybe 2009, something like that, for Vicky Cristina Barcelona. When you won, because this is always like a sort of a trippy thing, it's kind of like,

You win the, you know, the great Academy Award, uh,

Did you feel that kind of-- was it euphoric in the moment? Was it let down? Did it change anything? Or did you go-- or, you know, what was that sort of feeling like? -Was the moment as you imagined it? -Yeah, yeah. Well, it was the first one of the night, so... -Oh, God. -I was happy about that because my heart was going so fast. I don't know how I could have gone through hours of that, but it was incredible to be able to hug my mother there. I was sad my father wasn't there.

because they were not together as a couple, so they would take turns. And he came to some awards, he came to others, and all their family and friends were there. And I just...

The thing is that I only remember like 30% of it because the adrenaline was so high. And I remember like right after winning, calling my father and calling Pedro. And I remember... Pedro was like, oh, this girl will not leave me alone. Exactly. And I remember going after the ceremony, we went to In-N-Out. No.

No way. Of course, with the gown. And then we went to Guy Osiris' house, who is a very good friend of mine. And I'm sure you've been in that party. I walked in and I looked to my left and in a sofa together, there was Jack Nicholson, Scorsese, Harvey Keitel, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino. And I was like, oh.

can't handle that and I was like the other way I was like I got so nervous that image was like oh I should have taken a picture of that image yeah all of them together guy can pack a house

I was going to ask you a bit ago, but that's a perfect segue. You said you lived here for 15 years, but when you come visit, what are some of the things you look forward to eating in and out or seeing or experiencing? Do you miss anything that you get excited about here?

I have a group of friends that we get together and we play wolves. Wolves and villagers. You know the game, right? Of course, of course. And I'm sure you know some of the players. Oh, Mafia.

Oh my God. And you know, everyone ends up like so angry with each other for weeks because you just have to lie and betray other people in this game. And it's a really good game for actors. And, you know, it's one of the things that I try to do when I come back to LA, like get together with the wolf players that I have here. And we play a lot in Spain also. You can play it on Zoom too. Have you ever played it on Zoom? No.

No, no. Yeah, you can play it on Zoom. Interesting. Yeah, you can do it on, I think over COVID there was a lot of mafia on Zoom. Interesting. Really? I have a team of players in Madrid, like many friends that are obsessed with the game like I am. And then other team of players here. There's a show based on it, Penelope, called Traders. Yeah.

And it's based on that. From the UK. A UK version, an American version, and an Australian version. And now a friend of mine did a Spanish version of the show. Oh, really? Yeah. Sergio Perez Mancheta. That's interesting. What's something that people don't know that you do, like a sort of guilty pleasure, something that you, like, do you, like...

watch bad reality TV. This is-- I feel like I'm-- Jason, I'm getting into your territory with this question. -Yeah, we love this question. -We love this question. What do you do? Do you-- Are you secretly a golfer? Do you play tennis? Do you have some obsession, some-- I don't know. You like to doodle.

Well, I love a good massage, I have to say. Oh my God. I would have a massage every day. That's one of the best tips that you do. I would like to every single day. Do you get a massage once a week?

No, but I don't know. Once a month. Maybe once a month, once a day, but I love it. I hurt my back in the shower actually the other day. How are you doing? Yeah, just like trying to wash my feet, just reaching down and out it goes. So I got a massage last night. It was so deep and so painful. I hurt more today than I did yesterday. Yeah, for sure. But it's all different. It's all, I'm just sore from, so sometimes it can be a little too hard. Yes, Penelope? Yeah.

I don't know, it's one of my... I don't know, what can you call it? It's not a hobby, what can you call it? It's a passion. It's a treat. And I love knitting. Oh, you do? Yeah, I'm starting to do that with my daughter because my grandmother taught me how to do that and sewing. And I love cooking because with my job, it's not that I can cook every day, but it's something that I really like. And...

I don't have a lot of, actually like a lot of social life and I don't really go out. I don't drink. You know, I have strange hobbies also. Or like? I don't know why I always end up talking about this in interviews, but I love reading about medicine.

I do too. Why are you a hypochondriac? Yes, sir. I'm obsessed. There are many in the world. I'm obsessed. That's true. I love when I find somebody that can discuss endocrine system. I'm like, oh, best friend. Sean is on a VIP program. This is not a joke at Cedars because he's so obsessed with his own, right? He has his own entrance. Yeah.

Yeah. You and I are best friends. Yes, I mean, I'm obsessed. But do you both worry about mortality? Do you feel like... It's not about mortality. It's about suffering. Yes, that's exactly right. It's about suffering. I don't want to catch it. Tell me how did you get it? How do I avoid it? Yes, yes, yes. Were you both very nervous about COVID when COVID was around? Were you both nervous about that?

I was more nervous for other people, for people that were older or for children. Obviously, we didn't know what was going to happen. And I was worried for my mom. Did everybody get COVID? I did. I did get COVID. Sean, did you get it? You still haven't had it, right, Will? I've never had it, no. Oh, my God. But Penelope, I'm more worried about like...

Like if my stomach hurts or my eye hurts, I'm like, oh my God, I have cancer, I'm gonna die or whatever. I go from zero to 100 and then I have to read all about it. But why should we be scared? You've got an extra eye, don't you?

The thing is that you have to know where to read it. And when you do this, you end up knowing where to go. It's not like, doesn't it happen to you, like if you go to the doctor with the right questions and they tell you, you're not one of those that is reading everything on the internet. And it's like, well, it depends. If you go to the right places, you actually can come here with the right questions. It doesn't mean you go to the doctor with the answers, but you go with the right questions. Sometimes they don't like that.

That's right. That's right. My doctor is like, yeah, look it up online. He always says that. Does he really? Yeah. He does. Sounds pretty lazy. Or take a picture and text it to me. That's what he says.

Well, listen, Penelope, we have taken up way too much of your time. It's such an honor having you here and to join us. I love this. You said earlier to me that I need to experience the light of Madrid, and I think I just did. Yeah.

Yeah. Oh, no, I had so much fun talking to you, right? I feel it's too short. You shined your light on us. It is too short. I had so much fun in this conversation. We'll continue it in Madrid. Next time we're down to Madrid, we're going to look you up. We're going to have an 11 p.m. dinner on a Sunday night. You're going to cook for us.

-Yes, I will if you want. -We love that. We'll do it. Well, listen, continued success really and congratulations and everything. Enjoy your trip, your holidays, get back to the family. -And I can't wait for Ferrari. -Yeah, we can't wait. -We're looking forward to that. -Thank you. Thank you so much. -Yeah, we're such fans. -Thank you. -You've been really kind. Thank you so much. -Thank you, Penelope. -Thank you. Bye. -Bye-bye. -Fuck, I'm fucking-- Look at this. Oh, look at that. Penelope was so great, you're sweating.

I know. That was, I mean, gosh, right? Yeah. Penelope Cruz. I would, I didn't know what to, I'm such a fan. I've never met her or anything and to, I didn't know what to expect. I know, me neither. And now I'm like a bigger fan. Like she's a,

really fun and easy. I was hoping that she was going to be as charming and as wonderful as she seems to be, right? Don't you ever play that game where you watch people on talk shows and stuff like that and you're just a fan of theirs and you think like, like her, like what she was saying about Pedro Almodovar. Yeah. That's how you say it. Like she could just tell, boy, if we ever met, we'd really get along. I play that sometimes. I look at people and I'm like, you know what? I bet she'd be awesome. Yeah.

I think a lot of people do think that sometimes in the general public and they're like psychotic a little bit, but she's not because she's actually legitimately great. Oh, you were getting a psycho vibe when you'd watch her. Not from her. I'm saying that people, you know, there are people who watch movies and go like, I would be best friends with Jason Bateman. I will go and wait for him. I will wait for him and we will be, you know what I mean? But Sean, you kind of said it like it's a little different when it's,

her, you know, she shows up and you're like, um, yeah, okay, yeah, feel free to hang out with me. I want to see that movie. I want to see that movie. I know, I want to see Ferrari so bad. I know, me too. I love, I like Adam, I like her, I like Michael Mann, and I do like the cars, you know? I mean, I don't know if I'd ever be able to pull off owning one, but I do. Ferrari? No, you got to have a certain, you kind of got to have a certain thing to be able to own a Ferrari, I think. Hey, Will, you ever owned a Ferrari?

Funnily enough, I have, but the point is an old one. An old one. Sure. A classy one. No, not like one of these douchebags who drives around L.A. in one of those. Sure. I've never been in one. I've only seen them drive. Oh, bye! Bye!

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