Javier Bardem and Rebecca Hall in Vicky Cristina Barcelona Courtesy of The Weinstein Company

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Woody Allen's latest outing, the sensually sun-drenched Vicky Cristina Barcelona, charmed critics at Cannes with its return to what Woody does best — typically neurotic, upwardly mobile protagonists caught between what they want and what they think they want.

Vicky (Rebecca Hall) has her life all mapped out, down to her impending nuptials with the nebbishy Doug (Chris Messina). Her best friend Cristina, on the other hand, is a restless and nubile wanna-be boho only certain of what she doesn't want. When the two jet off to Barcelona for their last summer of freedom, they expect to spend a few months resting and enjoying the art of Barcelona. But when the dashing painted Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem) makes them an offer they can't refuse (no matter how much Vicky might want to), their lives become much more complicated indeed. When Juan's ex-wife, Maria Elena (Penélope Cruz), shows up on his doorstep fresh from a suicide attempt, things get even more confusing, volatile, and sexy.

Fresh off his Oscar-winning turn in No Country For Old Men, Javier Bardem chats exclusively with Premiere.com about working with Woody, why he is nothing like his sexually direct playboy character, and why you won't see him as Pablo Escobar any time soon. British stage and TV actress Rebecca Hall, who recently had heads turning for her role opposite Christian Bale in The Prestige, talks about acting opposite Hollywood's sexiest leading man, why her character fears unleashing her passion, and her upcoming role in Ron Howard's Oscar-bait Frost/Nixon.

JAVIER BARDEM

At the Cannes press conference, Woody Allen talked about the tragicomic aspects of Vicky Cristina Barcelona, noting that, while he hopes there are funny moments, by the end of the film the focus is on the tragic elements. Given Allen's famous lack of specific direction, what were the challenges in nailing the balance between comedy, tragedy, and sex in relation to Juan Antonio?
I think that is the one of the aspects of the genius of Woody Allen's dialogue. It is very difficult for an actor to receive really brilliant dialogue that really tells you the direction to go. It is true that when you are working with Woody Allen, he doesn't give too much direction, but I guess he relies on, first, the actors he chooses, and second, the dialogue he wrote, because as a good classic writer, when you have that material, you know exactly where to go. He leads you exactly in the right direction, and then you start reading and you see how the arc of the behavior of the character starts and what he goes through at the very end. So that, plus, in talking to us — because he talks! — and telling us, "Yeah, this may be a comedy, and this may be fun or not, but this is really a drama." This is a movie about people trying to find answers about something that doesn't have any answer, which is: how to approach love? What is the best way to approach love? Who knows? At the very end, the whole story gets another kind of bitter taste, because there are people harmed by the experience that they had in these couple of months. And I think that once you read that in the story, understand that, and know that the director wants you to go in that direction, you do it.

Although Woody Allen is a notoriously hands-off director, he requests that actors stick to the script. Yet, correct me if I am wrong, watching the fireworks between you and Penélope, it seems that a lot of the dialogue was improvised. Was that the case?
Well, [Woody Allen] likes to not take credit for that, but it is not true. What we said in Spanish, it was a literal translation of what he wrote. But it is true, that when I am working in Spanish — because it is my mother tongue —' I know it is better to use that word rather than the other so you add that or you take out that word. But the thought, the idea, the pace, the whole thing is something that he wrote. And he likes to say that it is not, but it is true. Who would dare to change any Woody Allen dialogue? I wouldn't.