Javier Bardem: “In No Country for Old Men, I felt like a steamroller”

In 2008, Première met the interpreter of the chilling killer in the Coen brothers’ western.

This interview appeared for the first time in issue 372 of Première in February 2008

Update from January 11, 2026: France Télévisions continues its special Cannes programming with No Country for Old Menbroadcast this Monday evening on France 3 then available the next day in replay, which was presented at the Festival in competition in 2007. A few months later, we met Javier Bardem for the French release of the Oscar-winning masterpiece by the Coen brothers. The Spanish actor is back on the Croisette this year for The loved onethe new film by Rodrigo Sorogoyen.

No Country for Old Men: Welcome to Hell (review)

Chigurh personifies evil in all its macabre splendor. Did you interpret him as this incarnation itself or as a psychopath?
That was the whole problem. As an actor, we always need to understand the logic of a character, the motivations for their actions. But there was none there. Chigurh is not a human being. It is a symbol, that of a violence that comes from nowhere and goes nowhere. Joel and Ethan didn’t want me to play him as mentally unbalanced. I, who love to guess the identity of a character through the language of their body, their way of speaking, walking, sitting or moving their hands, I had nothing to hold on to. So, to help myself, I imagined that he was a sort of supreme interlocutor, that he heard a voice deep inside – god or destiny. I thought he was both here and elsewhere, like a guy with headphones permanently pressed over his ears talking to you while simultaneously following a football match. The Man Who Wasn’t There (The Barber)it’s him too!

Chigurh walks around with an air tank and a shotgun in his hand. It seems you hate guns…
It’s true. In cinema, I avoid purely graphic violence. When I filmed in Alex De La Iglesia’s Perdita Durango, I wasn’t comfortable with my role as a mad satanist craving human sacrifice, even though it’s a very good film and I’m proud of my work. Since then, I have been careful to no longer accept this type of job if the script does not contain a real message about violence. In the Coen brothers’ film, this speech is embodied by the character of the sheriff, the “old man” played by Tommy Lee Jones. According to him, once violence starts, we can no longer stop it because we do not fight barbarism with barbarism.

You’re terrifying in the opening scene when you strangle a police officer. Your face becomes distorted, your eyes roll back, you no longer recognize yourself…
For me, this is the only moment in the film where the character experiences a feeling of pleasure. I played it like an orgasm. Maybe that’s why it’s scary! Chigurh allowed himself to be captured just so he could enjoy the chance to escape.

Do you ever get scared on screen?
No, never. Well, there, with the haircut, I say not!

Who came up with the idea for this grotesque bowl cut?
I followed the hairdresser into his trailer to do some tests. He took his scissors and cut. I could hear Joel and Ethan’s muffled laughter, then suddenly it exploded. I shouted, “Give me a mirror!” » When I looked in the mirror, I screamed: “Fuck, men!” » And then, a second later: “Damn, I think we got the character…” We all agreed. This cut is like Chigurh: structured, frighteningly methodical, not a hair sticking out. Going against the idea we have of a bad guy look really appealed to me. It looks like a page!

Or Mireille Mathieu. Do you know?
Mireille who? No. In Spain, people often quote Mafalda to me!

Your sex appeal must have taken a hit?
You know, I haven’t taken care of my power of seduction for years. Whether I’m bald or sporting the latest fashionable haircut, I don’t notice anything!

How did this shoot take place in the middle of the desert, on the Texas border?
Often I only shot two days a week. I got up to kill a lot of people and went back to the hotel to go to bed. I felt like a steamroller. Feeling alone in a crowd in New York is one thing; in the middle of the desert, it’s another! Against all expectations, I realized that I missed civilization.

You studied at the Beaux-Arts. Do you have a pictorial approach to your roles?
When I was younger, before taking on a role, I would draw whatever came into my head. But I stopped. Today, I still use this sense of color to mentally paint the character. If I put white here, I’m going to add a touch of shadow next to it so that it stands out. Or red. Well, obviously, in Chigurh’s case, it was more of a monochrome that I had in my head, a big black spot!

No Country for Old Men is broadcast this Monday evening at 9:10 p.m. on France 2.

The incredible connection between No Country for Old Men and Woody Harrelson’s father