'My uncle spent 10 years in Franco's jail because he was a Communist,' says Bardem, 'and he supported me in this project.' His participation in the production, which is extremely critical of the Cuban system, is typical of changing attitudes toward the once-romanticized island. Would he go back to Cuba? 'Yes, and either they won't let me in the country or Fidel Castro will personally come to greet me,' he says with a sly smile. 'When I returned I had picked up such a bad vibe there that I decided to do the role.' The experience changed Bardem, who admits that like many Spaniards he had romantic ideas about the Cuban revolution.īefore traveling to Cuba, Bardem had reservations about playing Arenas. It was not personalized.' Still, it's hard not to think of Bardem as the healthy antidote to Banderas' Latin overkill in Hollywood films.īardem visited Cuba to research Before Night Falls, never telling anyone that he was working on an Arenas project, for the Cuban writer was fiercely and outspokenly anti-Castro and no one would have dared to help him.

'No, I wasn't making fun of Antonio at all,' Bardem insists, 'I was only parodying the stereotype.