javier bardem

Penelope lay herself on the couch for Britain's Psychologies magazine (um, why?) and talked about a long-standing insecurity (file this under the Celebrities, They're Just Like Us, Duh! file): "Every time I make a film, I feel like it's my first time… I always think they could fire me. I've ruined my own happiness and created problems with my friends because of this tendency. It takes discipline for me to stop worrying."

That's coming from an Oscar winner. Imagine what I'm feeling sitting her filing this post at 4:37AM.

Even a great actor like Javier Bardem has to pay the bills, people, so playing Julia Roberts' Brazilian lover in the movie adaptation of the New York Times #1 bestseller Eat, Pray, Love is probably a good, if slightly undignified, idea.

Penelope Cruz looked stunning in a nude-colored strapless dress yesterday as she arrived for the Cannes Film Festival press conference for her new Pedro Almodovar movie, Los Abrazos Rotos (Broken Embraces). But things quickly went downhill.

First, the Spanish actress talked about a scene in which her character does something that every girl has experienced (or at least come very close to experiencing) after particularly bad sex: she goes to the bathroom to puke. (Bet that never happens to Pe in real life with boyfriend Javier Bardem. Lucky b***h.)

Salma Hayek married billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault all over again in the city in which they met—Venice— this weekend, in a star-studded two-day celebration. The fun started on Friday night, when guests including Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem, Bono, Charlize Theron, Gael Garcia Bernal, Diego Luna, Vogue editor Anna Wintour and ex-French prez Jacques Chirac arrived at historic building Punta Della Dogona, for a carnival-style masked ball.

Salma Hayek may have married her French dude at a quiet city hall ceremony on Valentine's Day, but you know that Salma wouldn't go out like that. As I write, the hot Latina star is putting together her mariage part deux—a beyond-lavish wedding celebration, to be held the weekend of April 24th, whose price tag is around $2 million, according to sources who spoke to Radaronline.com.

Milk comes out on DVD today, complete with a pretty solid performance by Diego Luna as an emotionally unstable lover of activist and politician Harvey Milk (Sean Penn). By my count, it's the second time Diego delves into the love that dare not speak its name. But he's not the only Latino actor who has gone brokeback, a bit surprising when you consider that the reputation of Latin men is that they have more straight-leaning testosterone, more power to seduce women with a single word than anyone on the planet. So why are Latin guys so good at playing gay dudes? My theories:

This morning, I was thinking about the fact that the cast for Watchmen, which comes out March 6, is lily, chalk, snow white, featuring exactly ZERO Latino or black actors, in the age of Obama. And then I was thinking about the fact that this year's Oscars were almost completely devoid of Latino presence (Penelope aside), which means that Latino actors, directors and producers are still not getting anywhere near consistent amounts of opportunity and also that we are not producing enough top quality talent and work.

Latinos have a history with the Oscars as long as the Oscars themselves. Here are the hightlights (Oscar clips are incredibly hard to find since the Academy forced YouTube to pull them down, so I've incuded mostly film clips and pix):

1929—Oscar statuette modeled on Mexican actor.

There were really only three significant Latino movie performances last year and the Oscars got it right by giving the best one a nomination this morning. Penelope Cruz received a Best Supporting Actress nod for playing a mentally unstable artist in Woody Allen's comedy Vicky Cristina Barcelona—a bilingual performance. When the accouncements were made at 8:30AM ET, the nominations were dominated by Slumdog Millionaire (10 noms) and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (13).

What do Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz and America Ferrera have in common? The three Latino stars are nominated for Golden Globes this year: Javi and Pe for their work in Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona and America for Ugly Betty, of course. You can cheer them on as the Golden Globes airs at 8 p.m. on NBC this Sunday. Meanwhile, check out our favorite six Latino moments at the Golden Globes: