Oscars 2022: How Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz Celebrated Their Nominations

The 94th Academy Awards is the culmination of an entire season worth celebrating the movies. And Oscars 2022 promises to be a pivotal one for the industry, with streaming services coming through like never before. However, that doesn’t mean viewers won’t have plenty of familiar faces making their way across the stage. In fact, both Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz are back with nominations this year. Here’s how the real-life couple celebrated the news.

Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz are both nominated at the 2022 Oscars

Bardem and Cruz each previously won an Academy Award. Bardem took home Best Supporting Actor for his sinister role as Anton Chigurh in 2007’s No Country for Old Men. And the very next year, Cruz won Best Supporting Actress for Vicky Christina Barcelona. In that film, incidentally enough, in which she plays the estranged ex-wife of Bardem’s character. The pair married in real life in 2010.

Among the 2022 Oscar nominations, Bardem earned his nod for Best Actor as Desi Arnaz in Being the Ricardos. In that film, he stars opposite Nicole Kidman as Lucille Ball. Meanwhile, Cruz contends for Best Actress for her role in Parallel Mothers. In both cases, the nominated movies earned just a single non-acting nomination.

The couple recently revealed how they celebrated the news of their nods

Following the news that both Bardem and Cruz received Oscar nominations, Variety reached out to Bardem to get his reaction. The actor stressed his pride in not only the movie but also his nominated co-stars Kidman and J.K. Simmons. He also spoke of the challenge “to inhabit the spirit” of Arnaz, whom he called “a person that has shaped a lot of people’s memories forever.” But how did Bardem and Cruz receive the news?

“We were watching [the nominations] together on the sofa — trying to fit in the same sofa, both of us, because we were very close to each other [and] nervous,” Bardem said. “There were many things that we were looking at, like Best International Feature for The Good Boss, a movie that I did. That didn’t make it to the final five, but it’s a great movie nonetheless. And of course, Being the Ricardos, Parallel Mothers, Dune. So it was a very interesting session. And then when the names came, we both were celebrating like crazy.”

Can either Javier Bardem or Penelope Cruz win at the Academy Awards?

Bardem and Cruz might already each have an Oscar win. But that doesn’t make the honor of getting a nomination any less thrilling. But does either actor have a solid chance at winning in their respective categories? According to Gold Derby — which tracks awards season odds and predictions — both actors might go home empty-handed.

Among the Best Actor contenders, Bardem’s odds put him last among the five nominees. Will Smith is the favorite to win for his role in King Richard. Likewise, Cruz has a similar shot at winning Best Actress. Olivia Colman — herself a past Oscar winner for The Favourite — is the frontrunner for her role in The Lost Daughter.