Reasons To Love Penelope Cruz & Javier Bardem

It's no secret to fans that Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem are a dream team, both in real life and in the rare times they were on-screen together. And now the IRL couple is starring in another film, keeping the dream team alive: at Cannes on Tuesday, EuropaCorp made an announcement that it would fund and produce the Javier Bardem- Penelope Cruz-starring Escobar, a biopic of the infamous drug lord Pablo Escobar. According to Variety, the film will be based on "Virginia Vallejo’s 2008 bestselling Spanish-language memoir Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar." Vallejo, a journalist, was Escobar's lover during the '80s who, after publishing this memoir in 2007, had to seek asylum in the United States. Scandalous! Excitement abounds not only because, well, who isn't intrigued by Pablo, but also because we should all be so lucky to see Bardem and Cruz together at any time. As a notoriously private couple, they don't allow us such a gift very often.

Though the two actors are world renowned now, they both had humble beginnings before they blew up on the world stage. Bardem comes from a long line of actors and filmmakers, but he still struggled getting his career off of the ground; Cruz was wayward, too. But, good things come to those who are super-talented, and now they are both Academy Award winners, married, and hot together and separately. Here's why they're always great together, on and off-screen — in other words, why this collaboration is exciting news.

They're Great On-Screen Together

Cruz and Bardem were on fire in Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona in 2008, which Scarlett Johansson also starred in. Cruz played Maria Elena, mentally unstable and sexually adventurous wife of artist Juan Antonio, played by Bardem. The two of them lure Johansson's character and her character's friend into their relationship, and turns into a messy affair. Cruz, of course, was amazing in the rose, and she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress as a result — making her the first Spanish woman to win the statue. You go, girl.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona isn't the only film they've starred in together, either: Cruz and Bardem met way, way back when filming Jamón, jamón in 1992 — which happens to be Cruz' first film ever!

They Are Crazy Talented, Literally

Both sides of the Cruz-Bardem marriage have played their fair share of crazies on the silver screen. Besides her award-winning turn as Maria Elena in the aforementioned Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Cruz has also played insane characters in Volver, and Gothika.

And if you think Javier Bardem is handsome but also terrifying, you'd be correct: He portrayed both killer Anton Chigurh in No Country For Old Men (which he won an Oscar for) and the baddie in Skyfall. Feels good to be bad, I guess.

They Give Back & Speak Out

Cruz donated her entire salary from her film The Hi-Lo Country to the late Mother Teresa's leprosy clinic in India — and even went there to work with the nun for a week. Cruz and her husband also proved they have no problem with speaking out for that what they believed in when, in 2014, they signed a letter with numerous other actors and directors in the film industry condemning the actions of Israel.

They've Got Badass Famous Friends

Legendary Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar is like totally obsessed with Penelope Cruz, and who can blame him? She's flawless. It's a match made in heaven, really; Cruz said that seeing Almodóvar's Atáme! when she was young changed her view of the world and made her want to act. Not to mention she's BFF with Salma Hayek. What a crew.

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