Javier Bardem Talks About Acting Alongside Johnny Depp on ‘Pirates 5’

Javier Bardem joined the fifth installment of the blockbuster franchise, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, alongside Johnny Depp, ET reports.

Bardem spoke with ET’s Caryl Steel at the movie’s Shanghai premiere on Thursday, and the 48-year-old actor talked about the excitement and challenges of acting opposite Depp.

He commended Depp as “a joy to work with,” and he revealed that the actor’s familiarity with his iconic role was fascinating, and it was at times difficult for co-stars not to get caught up in his role.

“He’s playing this character he knows so well that sometimes, the difficult part is to not be a spectator,” the Oscar winner described. “Sometimes I was shooting with him and I was watching how he became Sparrow and it was a delight. And then it’s like, ‘S**t! I have to say my line.'”

Bardem explained how he also looked for advice from his wife, Penelope Cruz, who starred opposite Depp in the fourth Pirates movie, On Stranger Tides.

“[Her] advice for working with Johnny is very simple, it’s ‘have fun,'” Bardem revealed.

“When I was on the Pirates 4 set, while Penelope was shooting, I realized how amazing the team was [that] Jerry Bruckheimer and Disney put together to make this kind of movie,” he added. “I knew from the very beginning it was going to be an easy and exciting process.”

In Dead Men Tell No Tales, Bardem stars as Captain Armando Salazar, a magical and undead pirate hunter in quest of the Trident of Poseidon in order to kill every pirate who sails the seas and get vengeance on his nemesis, Captain Jack Sparrow.

Aside from Depp, many familiar faces will be returning for the fifth Pirates movie, such as Geoffrey Rush who returns as Captain Hector Barbossa, Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Turner, and Orlando Bloom as Elizabeth’s husband, Will Turner, who became the Captain of the Flying Dutchman at the finale of the third movie, At World’s End.

At present, Bardem is working together with his wife on the upcoming drama Escobar, a real life story of drug lord Pablo Escobar’s romantic entanglement with Colombian journalist Virginia Vallejo. He will play the role of the famous cocaine kingpin while Cruz will star as Vallejo.

The actor also shared to ET how his working relationship with his wife has evolved after co-starring on several projects over the years, including 2013’s The Counselor and 2008’s Vicky Christina Barcelona.

“[Our connection] was very powerful in the sense that the relationship of those two characters, Virginia and Pablo, is very powerful,” Bardem said. “We had a great time doing it together… But there were some tough scenes in it.”

Bardem said that getting to act with his wife on the movie’s more emotionally challenging scenes made them less difficult to shoot.

“It was easier than we expected,” he said. “We both had a lot of joy doing it.”