Let's just say that you're going to see a lot more of Javier Bardem in the coming years, including a role in Woody Allen's Vicky Christina Barcelona. At the recent press junket in Beverly Hills for No Country for Old Men, Bardem talked psychopaths, weapons, hypothetical Oscar speeches and working with Woody Allen.

Javier Bardem on what it took to get into such an evil character in No Country For Old Men:

"Well, you have to really go there and work, I mean, get into the world of imagination because you haven’t had any background or any experience that can get you close to what you have to perform. You haven’t killed anybody or - the closest you have been is to have wished, sometimes in your life, that you would have liked to kill somebody, which we all had. We all, in one moment in our life, would have wished to kill somebody. And of course, what makes the difference between us and the animals is that we have common sense and a reason to tell us that’s wrong, but we have this animal impulse to say, 'Oh God, if I could,' no? Even with your wife or with your son there’s a moment where you go [snaps fingers] like that. And of course it lasts only, thank God, no more than a million of... less of a second. For those who last more than that, they have a problem, and they are killers. And what’s the difference between that and our common sense, the impossibility of really being able to see the line, the difference that makes the difference between us and an animal, which is impulsive? So it’s funny because I want to go to this kind of an impulsive action of the role, at the same time doing a very kind of passive behavior because he is not an active person. He is more kind of still. But once he has this shark moment, he goes wild. He can't stop himself. And that’s what makes him difficult to really expect because, apparently, nothing happens. Like in the gas station, he’s totally still. He doesn’t have any violent reaction at all."

Bardem on whether he thinks his character is a psychopath:

"Yeah, I think it’s more kind of an icon, idea of what violence should represent or represents, which is something that comes out of nowhere and goes nowhere, and it only creates misery, pain and harm. And I saw him, [to portray him], more kind of an idea rather than a human being, since I think what he really is is a reaction to the other people’s actions. If Josh Brolin has a violent action, it’s natural for the fate, for destiny, that some violent reaction will happen to him. And I am the natural -- I am the violent reaction. But in order to make the people understand or get related to him, you have to humanize him a little bit. And what I tried to do is to put him in very uncomfortable situations where he has to -- when he has to face or deal with daily life, for example, opening a bottle, getting the phone, operating an envelope, he has some problems, like he’s out of sync, like he really cannot deal with normal life. Like, imagine himself being locked in a room rather than being a social guy because he has something with the exterior world, with the people."

On selecting his weapon and whether it was a challenge to use:

"Yeah, it was heavy, but I will only hold it for the scene. [laughs] Somebody will hold it for me. I don’t wear that - I don’t carry that the whole day, but it was quite heavy. It’s funny that he walks around with that because it’s really heavy. It’s like, ‘Oh, this...’ But I didn’t know what a pressure gun was. It’s in the book. And the first time I saw it, it was like, ‘What is this? How do you deal with this?’ And it was very easy. You just press the button, and there’s a big stick, metal stick that goes, ‘Click,’ for the cows -- for the cattle."

On what it would be like to stand at the podium to give an Oscar speech:

"That must be one of the most horrible moments in anybody’s career... to get out there and speak to millions of people in less than 15 seconds. Of course we all want to be liked by other people, and we want to be applauded. And that’s something that belongs to our ego, and we cannot do anything against that. And especially actors, we’re insane human - I mean, kind of people. We are all constantly pretending to be liked by others. That’s important, but I think there’s a huge cultural thing with that award feeling - with the awards feeling that has to do with the need of being number one that -- I don’t have it. I think, in Europe, we are more safe of that. And I feel that as long as I come here and I see the snowball takes over, sometimes the discussion of what we really did, in order to talk about that and only that and only that. And that is insane. Would I like to be nominated? Of course I would like to be nominated and have an award because we all want that, but the work that you have to imply in there is like a political campaign, where you have to go to places and say, 'You know what? I’m worth it.' And that’s so unnatural that I did that once for Before Night Falls, and I don’t want to do that again."

Javier Bardem Interview Page 2