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Did Pedro Almodóvar Save Penelope Cruz's Career?
There's More To Vicky Cristina Barcelona Than Just A Threesome

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mmj200
09/28/09

In reply to Did Pedro Almodóvar Save Penelope Cruz's Career?
She's an unconventional knockout beauty and a lucky bitch to be screwing that hot piece called Javier. My heavens does that man put exy in sexy.
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Beets.Go.On is the Fat Yogini
09/28/09

In reply to Did Pedro Almodóvar Save Penelope Cruz's Career?
I didn't realize that Vanilla Sky was considered a "terrible movie." As far as transhumanist concept films go, I thought (and still think) it was excellent.
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birminghamdrunk
09/28/09

@Beets.Go.On is the Fat Yogini: for real. i know a lot of people didn't like it because there aren't any OMG SPECIAL EFFECTS SHIT EXPLODING, but conceptually speaking, the story line, and how it was shot was superb. Vanilla Sky is, hands down, one of my favorite movies.
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lavenderstain
09/28/09

In reply to Did Pedro Almodóvar Save Penelope Cruz's Career?
"Schnoz" really? a raised nose makes you not "pretty" now?

ooookay
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GreyCat
09/28/09

@lavenderstain: I have seen many references to and jokes about her nose and I really don't get it.
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whynotshesaid
09/28/09

@GreyCat: I actually appreciate that her nose is not the typical little ski-jump nose. I have a larger nose myself, and it's been the one part of my body I am super-sensitive about ever since I was a little girl, so seeing gorgeous women like Penelope Cruz and Anjelica Huston rock their noses makes me feel better about my own.
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Hippopotame begs you to promote her comments.
09/28/09

In reply to Did Pedro Almodóvar Save Penelope Cruz's Career?
She has been great in several Almodovar films. I don't get why this article you're reporting on seems to make it seem that it was only Volver that showed her talent. All About My Mother was exquisite and Live Flesh was good, too. She was also in Belle Epoque. Woman On Top was an awful film, but she did fine acting in it. Bandidas, a more recent film, was also pretty silly. So, basically, she's had some good roles, some crap roles and some excellent roles.
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ytuhermanotambien
09/28/09

@Hippopotame: That's a good point. Although you could make the argument that Almodovar launched her career, Volver is way too late. She'd been starring in his movies for years, and All About My Mother was both more critically acclaimed and more of a commercial success.
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Calraigh promoted this comment ytuhermanotambien was starred

parangaricutirimicuaro
09/28/09

@ytuhermanotambien: I do think Almodovar gave her the platform to show her talent, then she made really bad decisions that were burying her career and it wasn't until she went back to work with Almodovar that she "shined" again.
So I think both you and the article are right. :)
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topsy
09/28/09

In reply to Did Pedro Almodóvar Save Penelope Cruz's Career?
I'm so glad that I no long have to defend my Penelope Cruz love. I never really bothered with her American movies but Cruz and Almodovar are a match made in heaven. Actually, Almodovar and anybody is a match made in heaven. The man can direct!
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BlondeGoddess
09/28/09

In reply to Did Pedro Almodóvar Save Penelope Cruz's Career?
She's just a mediocre actress in English. When she speaks Spanish: a whole different league.
There are so many nuances in a language, it's hard to sound natural when it's not your own mother tongue.
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cait98
09/28/09

@BlondeGoddess: That's exactly what it is. She isn't a very good actress, in my opinion, in English. She's incredible in her native language.

I mean, look at her in Vanilla Sky/Abre Los Ojos - same role, same plot, same movie and she is so much better in one.

Also, I've loved Almodovar forever, my favorite director, and they make a good team. He's made me fall vicariously in love with his other muses too.

The man makes really excellent movies about women.
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Calraigh promoted this comment Edited by cait98 at 09/28/09 11:19 AM cait98 was starred cait98 was unstarred

kemperboyd
09/28/09

@BlondeGoddess: I totally agree. I saw Broken Embraces and said to my mother; "you forget how good an actress she really is until you see her in Spanish"
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hfree
09/28/09

In reply to Did Pedro Almodóvar Save Penelope Cruz's Career?
Her two biggest problems in her early English speaking career were that a) she couldn't actually speak English yet (and neither could Antonio Banderas when he started btw) and b) she was cast as any all kinds of non-Anglo ethnicities (Greek, Brazilian, Italian, etc.). That would have been an incredible challenge for anyone, and one almost impossible to pull off. By going back to Spain and playing the parts of Spanish women she could act within her comfort zone and really shine. Hopefully this will inspire some more appropriate parts for her in the future.

And she was hardly the worst thing about Captain Corelli's Mandolin (I'm looking at you Cage!), a terrible movie made from a pretty good book.
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SmaženýSýr
09/28/09

In reply to Did Pedro Almodóvar Save Penelope Cruz's Career?
And yet VF apparently felt the need to Photoshop her. WTF?
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whynotshesaid
09/28/09

@SmaženýSýr: OMG you are right. They totally shaved off a third of her nose. WTF, Vanity Fair?
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Raederle
09/28/09

@SmaženýSýr: She's almost unrecognizable on the cover. I had to do a triple-take.
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LaFemme
09/28/09

@Raederle: I think she kind of looks like J. Lo here.
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ytuhermanotambien
09/28/09

@whynotshesaid: The Photoshopped nose makes her almost unrecognizable. Also, I've read before that she had to wear padding in the butt for a role before, so if that's her real ass on the VF cover, her body type must have drastically changed.
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Katxyz
09/28/09

@SmaženýSýr

I think Penolope is one of the most beautiful people I have ever seen (well, seen pictures of) in my entire life and that cover looks totally wrong. Everything looks off. I don't know how or why someone would do that to someone so absolutely stunning.
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Vixen5
09/28/09

In reply to Did Pedro Almodóvar Save Penelope Cruz's Career?
I've been a fan of Ms. Cruz since I saw her in Woman on Top which makes me want to get on a flight to Brazil every single time. I think she's fantastic and I loved pretty much every Almodovar flick she was in.
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whynotshesaid
09/28/09

In reply to Did Pedro Almodóvar Save Penelope Cruz's Career?
I never realized what a brilliant actress she was until I saw Volver. Before that, I thought she was just the pretty half of an annoyingly homophonic celebrity couple.

I'm glad things are changing a bit for her. She was my favorite part of VCB, and I cheered when she won the Oscar.
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FattyCatty
09/28/09

@whynotshesaid: Volver was amazing - she and Almodovar make such a great team. I was really happy for here when she won, too! She totally deserved it.
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Ailatan
09/28/09

In reply to Did Pedro Almodóvar Save Penelope Cruz's Career?
She's very good looking, I don't think she's beautiful though. There's something very luminous about her eyes, that's her best feature.

As an artist, she's a very good actress, and I believe her best parts are in Spanish, she conveys something more in her mother tongue.
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LaFemme
09/28/09

@Ailatan: I remember Almodovar saying once (pre-nose job) that what he liked about her was how she could at once be extremely beautiful and quite ugly, which he thought helped portray the duality of people, that no on was all good or all bad. I agree with him, and this is even more obvious in her older films, like "Jamon, Jamon."
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Emily
09/28/09

In reply to Did Pedro Almodóvar Save Penelope Cruz's Career?
I love Pedro Almodóvar. Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown is one of my all-time favorite movies. When will he get a cover story in Vanity Fair?
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catalina
09/28/09

@Emily: i just watched that movie yesterday for about the 50th time. it always helps when i'm feeling a lil crazy. no one gets women like Almodovar.
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nyc-caribbean-ragazza
09/28/09

In reply to Did Pedro Almodóvar Save Penelope Cruz's Career?
I used to argue all the time with certain film industry friends that Penelope was a fantastic actress. Instead they used to make fun of her accent.

Given she speaks five languages and they only spoke one I found their dismissal of her annoying.

Hollywood had no idea what to do with her. I was so glad when she went back to Europe to do "Don't Move" (Italian) and "Volver".

She was the best thing about VCB.
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MeetJoMarch
09/28/09

@nyc-caribbean-ragazza: I agree -- she was the best part of Vicky Cristina Barcelona. I just kept waiting for her to return even in scenes when she wasn't there.
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margareita metermaid
09/28/09

In reply to Did Pedro Almodóvar Save Penelope Cruz's Career?
Interesting. I just realized I no longer dislike Ms. Cruz and in fact, like her a lot. That must coincide with her getting better roles via Almodovar and losing that once regrettable connection to Tom Cruise. I'm glad her reputation is one of a talented actress these days, as opposed to a girlfriend of a psychopath.
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hortense
09/28/09

@margareita metermaid: I think the Tom Cruise thing has a lot to do with it, too.
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FattyCatty
09/28/09

In reply to Did Pedro Almodóvar Save Penelope Cruz's Career?
She really is overwhelmingly beautiful. Mr Catty always says she's so beautiful, she doesn't even seem real.

Of course, that would not stop him from leaving me for her in a hot minute, should she ever even glance in his general direction - but really, can you blame him? I'd probably leave him for her, too.
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JesiDangerously
09/28/09

@FattyCatty: My boyfriend and I both had agreed, we'd both leave each other if Javier or Penelope gave us the chance. We're flexible.
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