Spanish actor Javier Bardem, who plays the villain in the latest 007 movie, got his own star on the storied Hollywood Walk of Fame on Thursday, two days before the US release of "Skyfall.
"
The Oscar-winning star was joined by director Sam Mendes, who lavished praise on him, while Bardem paid tribute to British fellow cast member Daniel Craig in his latest turn as James Bond.
"You will not be disappointed. The great Sam Mendes has done an amazing movie... Daniel Craig is, as you know, an extraordinary," he told reporters at the star-unveiling ceremony on Hollywood Boulevard.
"I had a lot of fun playing Silva because he's a fun character to play," he said, referring to his blond-haired baddie character in the new movie, which came out in Europe last month.
Also on hand were Bond girls Berenice Marlohe and Naomie Harris, who co-star in the new Bond movie, which has won rave reviews.
Bardem was the first Spaniard to be nominated for an Academy Award and the first to win one, for best supporting actor in the 2007 film "No Country for Old Men."
Married to actress Penelope Cruz, he got his first English-speaking role in "Before Night Falls" by director Julian Schnabel in 2000, and has since made his mark firmly on the big screen internationally.
"I'm really embarrassed... especially now that I have to speak English with all these people looking at me and taking pictures, hoping for me to say something brilliant, which I'm not gonna say," he said.
Mendes recounted how Bardem was chosen for the Bond villain role.
"I said well maybe, I thought, 'It's crazy, look at him, he looks fantastic,'" Mendes recalled. "But I said OK, let's have a look, let's pre-test it.
"He came in a week later and not one person recognized him.
"He walked to the camera with different hair, different face, different eyes... he just looked to the camera and he was someone else.
"And all that work is crystallized in one second, and that really is what it is to be a great actor," added the British director.
