Parallel Mothers ' Penélope Cruz says Pedro Almodóvar has 'no filters': It's 'so refreshing'
As Janis, a new mother caught in an impossible situation, Penélope Cruz is heartwrenching in Pedro Almodóvar's Parallel Mothers — but it wasn't because the director told Cruz, who has two children with husband Javier Bardem, to imagine herself in the same predicament.
"He was very clear: 'We are not going to have your own tears in these characters,'" the actress tells EW's Clarissa Cruz on the latest episode of The Awardist podcast. "In a situation like [Janis'], I would cry nonstop all day long. And I'm happy I'm somebody that can cry easily… I need that release in my life. But the way [Janis] processes things is different."
It's the star's seventh collaboration with Almodóvar (who first directed her in 1997's Live Flesh), and Cruz continues to admire the director's perspective. "Trying to be a good mother is the most important thing in my life," the actress says. "And I have a very strong maternal instinct since I was a little girl. But I love how Pedro can write three very, very different mothers and doesn't judge any of them… He doesn't judge in life and of course, he doesn't judge his characters. And that is so refreshing, especially in the world right now, to have an artist like him with no filters."
Cruz's performance, which has earned her some of the best reviews of her career, won the Best Actress prizes at the Venice Film Festival and the National Society of Film Critics Awards. But the actress, who won an Oscar in 2009 for her fiery turn in Vicky Cristina Barcelona, deflects any awards talk. "I try not to think too much about those things, not to expect anything. And then if something happens, you get really happy and excited, and it's an amazing thing," she says. "I feel so grateful that [Pedro] has given me this movie. I cannot ask for more."
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