I want to read Bardem's memoirs about the real reason he said "Nein!" to NINE. "I'm tired" doesn't make sense to me. Musicals are rare and hard to finance and Rob Marshall had amassed an amazing 'buzz' based on his bulging screen full of both Oscar winners and nominee's that was/is nearly too good to be true. With Bardem out of the picture, it really is too good to be true. Bardem is probably just 'tired' of not getting the huge bucks he deserves, because even if he croaked his singing role, his presence was going to make this a sure winner. NCFOM was put up on screen for around $16.0 million, I think I read, and has pulled in something like $160.0 (...more than half in Europe; someone check my figures). That is a lot for a Coen Brothers film. You do have your Coen Brother's fans, like me, but that film also had Bardem and you then have to factor in the Bardem fans (like me) who were really, really ready for another JB film...and in English, all the better! Comparing the cost of making NCFOM to the U.S./European grosses, and then subtracting out the 'missing $100.O million' you can count on from the attendance of the 'mindless idiot explosion film lover's', NCFOM was a monster hit. HUGE! I have no idea what the DVD sales/rentals are.

And I think most of that was Bardem, lets be honest. About half of the U.S. grosses and most of the European. I would like to have been a fly on the wall when Rob Marshall and Bardem's management people were squaring off over Bardems participation in NINE...and his salary participation. I've read today that Bardem had 'signed' but withdrawn (...this in relation to an article from the Rob Marshall side). But Bardem had 'never signed' and in fact during Oscar season I read a Bardem interview in which Bardem discussed with the interviewer that he (Bardem) had gone to London for NINE auditions and he told the interviewer "....we'll see what happens." I remember thinking that didn't sound good for NINE (...or me, because I really wanted to see this one). I think what happened to both TETRO (...too small a role, post second Oscar nom and finally a win) and NINE (post Oscar win) was the Oscar. The statements coming out from both sides are very 'face saving' for both parties. I don't buy it. But it's 'all good'. JB isn't going away forever...I think the next time Hollywood calls, though, they may have to come 'a callin' with that 'satchel' full of dinero that he was chasing Llewelyn around for. Rob Marshall lost the coin toss.

And he may be tired, (...his air miles alone are to the moon and back) but I don't think any actor is too tired to do a high profile musical such as NINE with Loren, Cotillard, Cruz, Kidman (...is she 'signed'? I read not), Dench, etc. And Bardem would have been the perfect Guido Contini. They will find another, and perhaps a brilliant singer, but Bardem/NINE was a perfect and brilliant concept and would have served Bardem quite well...pre-Oscar win. He is really just too big an international star to not get paid big. So he'll go hang out at La Bardemcilla' and throw back some cold Mahou, read scripts and open his mail. It will be interesting to know if someone else really important (Cotillard) sticks due to the absence of Bardem. If she goes, I'll just wait for the DVD. Losing Marion Cotillard will be a disaster. I predict Bardem's next project will be another (long overdue) brilliant collaboration in a Spanish project. He probably has one in mind. He doesn't really have to say yes to anyone!

There is one BIG winner in all of this. Woody Allen. The nebbish 'little but mighty' film maker is left standing after all of the TETRO and NINE smoke has cleared with the one surving Bardem 'film in the can.' And good for Woody. His films, like the Coen's, though loved by all, don't always fill theater's (...actually I think never). I predict this film with good reviews, and of course Bardem, will do big, big business from old and now all of the new Bardem film fans that have discovered him thru NCFOM. And it doesn't hurt that Cruz and Johansson are getting busy in that darkroom.

Bardem announces he's taking a year off!! That means nearly two years until Javier comes to the cineplex again after VCB...ah, por Dios! I wonder where he is on the KILLING PABLO shoot!? Too tired for that too? I hope not, but if he hasn't signed for that one, I'll bet they are nervioso. I'd like to just tell his maid, Rosa, to throw a pillow over the phone and unplug the door bell so he can get 'untired'.