OSCAR nominee JAVIER BARDEM prepared for his role as the gay Cuban writer REINALDO ARENAS by watching videos of TOM HANKS.

Both Bardem and Hanks have been nominated for this year's Best Actor Oscar. He says, "I had seen PHILADELPHIA, I don't know, three or four times. But when I was doing Reinaldo Arenas, I took that videotape with me all over Mexico and the United States. "I watched that movie every four, five days, just to learn how Tom Hanks played the AIDS part when he was dying, because I thought that was amazing." Bardem's performance in BEFORE NIGHT FALLS is his first English- language role. (PDD/WNWCAN/RP)

Source: WENN