Penelope Cruz the erotic scenes in her first film that almost ruined her career, at only 18 years old
She filmed several of them with Javier Bardem, who years later would become the love of her life. But by then the critics were voracious. And the filming, quite uncomfortable, for which the Spanish woman, today a true movie star, at that time considered not filming anymore.
She lived a childhood in a typical family of the Spanish middle class. She did not have abundance, but she also did not lack anything in the first years of her life. She went through that stage between friends, sports and rigorous school attendance. However, as a teenager, Pen-lope Cruz felt that her place in her world was going to be in acting. Before that she hadn't even imagined it, but her dream came to her in 1989 after watching Tie Me Up.
Curiously, Penelope was 13 years old when Pedro Almodóvar's film was shown in theaters: she was not allowed to enter. But she managed by falsifying her identity document to get her ticket and get settled in the front rows. Already grown up and with fame on her shoulders, she commented that she had done it so as not to miss the premiere of the film of her favorite director.
Until then, her flirtation with her art was linked to dance. Classical dance ran through her veins, but she was overshadowed when she made it her goal not only to succeed in the seventh art, but also to work with Almodóvar. With these two ideas fixed in her mind, she began to study acting and to present herself as soon as she found out about her casting.
A year later she would star in a video clip for Mecano, the Spanish band in fashion at the time. Almost at par, she was given the first chance to debut on the big screen. It was in The Greek Labyrinth, a film in which she had a small participation. Already inside the industry, she went for more. That young woman who was born in Alcobendas, a municipality of Madrid, was beginning to give life to that dream of hers.
Popularity and trauma
In 1992, at the age of 17, she stumbled upon a great chance, but nothing turned out as she imagined and she was about to abandon the career that seemed promising. Bigas Luna summoned her for the Spanish film Jamón Jamón. It was her first leading role and an initial flirtation with the awards that would come after her, thanks to her work. For the film, she was nominated at the Goya Awards in the leading actress category.
Cruz was just a teenager and she had to face several s-x scenes. The endless shootings, episodes that she had to repeat over and over again while she was without clothes in front of a whole team, caused her - like other actresses - a great trauma. She went from joy to disappointment in the blink of an eye. What she wanted for her life had not started in the best way.
To make matters worse, she had to run into harsh criticism when the work was released: her explicit ss-xual scenes threatened to pigeonhole her. The press of that time wondered how her career would continue, since films of that nature were not abundant. Even, there was no lack of voices that recommended, even almost maliciously, that she go to adult cinema. Penelope got tired… Was that what she was going to expect for the rest of her career? Would her entire artistic life be linked to that role? Too many questions and - not having so many weapons, being inexperienced - few answers.
Many years later, already consecrated, she would talk about it in an interview with the British newspaper The Sun. A question about her first leading role opened an unexpected door. There, she confessed that her acting future hung by a thread, that she was about to slam the door and leave everything.
After hearing the question, she took a deep breath and blurted out, “I didn't take it well at all. It caused me a strong rejection of anything that had something to do with the s-xual or the sensual. I got a boyish haircut and didn't do any love scenes, not even kissing, for several years. I had a very bad time, I wanted to leave everything, my illusion of succeeding as an actress had gone to the ground”.
One of the many erotic scenes that Penelope Cruz had to film in Jamón Jamón
It was at that moment, in which she was about to kick the board, that her mother, Encarna Sánchez, appeared to hold her and prop her up, so that she could continue with her longing. “Thanks to her I have always enjoyed being a woman and appreciated how wonderful we are. She supported me at all times. When she was a girl and said that she wanted to be an actress, she was the only one who supported me, when everyone looked at me as if she had said that she wanted to go to the moon”.
