I completely understand and sympathize with Javier Bardem‘s decision to accept a straight paycheck acting gig (i.e., portraying gunslinger Roland Deschain in a three-part TV mini based on Stephen King‘s The Dark Tower) that’s well beneath his usual aesthetic pay-grade. He’s doing it, almost certainly, to fortify the nest for the sake of his and Penelope Cruz’s recently arrived son Leo. All acting parents do this when a baby comes along — they go for the money and feel just fine about it. Just a fact of life. I’d do the same in his position.
