Filmmaker James Gray told a London Film Festival audience this morning during a career Q&A that he believes Two Lovers, his fourth feature, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Gwyneth Paltrow, was the first time he successfully executed his artistic vision as a director.

“This movie was very important to me. It was the first time I had creative control. The work took on another character,” Gray said after the LFF crowd was shown a clip from the 2008 film.

“I don’t regard the films I made before this very highly. I hope people like them, but I don’t think of them as truly mine. I was still trying to do something. Two Lovers was the first film that felt like who I was trying to be, if that makes sense, because I had total freedom.”

Gray added that Two Lovers was a relatively “cheap movie,” costing around $9.5 million.

“I was left alone. The actors were great. I made exactly what I wanted,” he said. “I don’t know if the film is great, good, or terrible, but my emotional connection to it is profound because it was a beautiful time in my life.”

Directed by Gray from a screenplay he co-wrote with Ric Menello, Two Lovers tells the story of Leonard (Phoenix), an aspiring photographer and introvert who has moved back into his parents’ home following a recent heartbreak. His concerned parents try to set him up with Sandra (Vinessa Shaw), the daughter of a family friend. But Leonard meets Michelle (Paltrow), the beautiful but volatile mistress of a wealthy married man who has recently moved into an apartment in his family’s building. He becomes caught between the two women.

Gray is at the LFF with his latest feature, Paper Tiger. The film screened last night in London.

Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson and Miles Teller star in the pic set in 1986 Queens, NY, in which two brothers become entangled in a scheme that ends up involving the Russian mafia, putting their family at risk. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May. Neon will release the film theatrically on November 13.

The LFF runs until October 18.

Spanish star Javier Bardem thanked a BFI London Film Festival crowd for getting out early on Sunday morning to attend a Screen Talk session with him.

Bardem, whose other half, Penelope Cruz, is also enjoying some time in the spotlight this year (thanks to a trifecta of buzzy films: La Bola Negra, The Invite and Bunker), is in the British capital promoting his and Cruz’s Bunker as well as The Beloved, in which he co-stars with Victoria Luengo.

During the talk, Bardem reflected on a glittering career, from his early life growing up in one of Spain’s most prestigious acting families to winning an Oscar and, this year, finally conquering his fear of the stage.

In one of the session’s lighter moments, Bardem, known for roles in Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008), Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017) and the Dune franchise, spoke about initially declining one of his most iconic roles, as the villainous but sexually magnetic former agent of Judi Dench’s M, Raoul Silva, in 2012’s Skyfall.

The actor said about turning down the part at first: “I guess I was nervous. Like, ‘What am I doing in the James Bond movie? What can I do?’ But then we sat down. Sam Mendes is a genius, and we went through the reading of it, and he was so open to what I was proposing, which had to do with the sexuality of the guy.”

Bardem was thinking outside the box when it came to his depiction of Silva, and pitched this to the filmmaker. “I said, ‘Listen, all the villains have done everything to destroy the world, but what about becoming personal? What about something besides destroying the world? [Like] he wants to have sex with Mr. Bond?’ And [Mendes] said, ‘I’ll talk to the studio and get back to you,’” said Bardem, erupting into laughter, before referencing one of the movie’s standout scenes where Bardem’s character suggestively strokes the thighs of a tied-up Daniel Craig.

“The studio was very brave,” continued Bardem. “And I think that scene lasts in the memory of the audience… Because we went a little bit further with it. It’s a way to say, ‘Okay, how do you really put Mr. Bond out of his place with a situation that he hasn’t been there before?’ And the way he comes out of it is brilliant.”

Bardem expressed his disbelief, to this day, that he shared the screen with Dame Judi Dench, and even confessed to forgetting his lines when Mendes first called action because he realized where he was. “[Mendes] said, ‘Cut! Javier, what’s going on?’ [I said], ‘Well, sorry, I just realized that I’m in a James Bond movie. Excuse me, I just saw Judi Dench and James Bond looking at me and said, ‘Fuck! I’m in a James Bond movie! Sorry, let’s do it again.’ I was absolutely taken by the joy of it.”

Unfortunately, the Bond franchise star was not probed on who he thinks would make a good Bond for Denis Villeneuve’s upcoming movie for Amazon MGM Studios, as rumors continue to swirl around who might next don the tuxedo of Ian Fleming’s beloved spy.

Bardem took the crowd through a prolific filmography, particularly some impressive Spanish-language projects such as Jamón jamón (1992) and Biutiful (2010). When the discussion came to his Oscar-winning turn in the Coen brothers’ No Country for Old Men (2007), the audience was shown the nail-biting coin toss scene between Bardem’s terrifying killer Anton Chigurh and supporting actor Gene Jones.

“Half of the Oscar I have is his,” said Bardem about Jones, who only appears in that single, four-minute scene. “Because he plays fear, the insecurity and uncertainty so beautifully that he makes the scene,” explained the star. “I do my part, but he does the horror. He’s fantastic. That’s what I mean: You are not working alone. You need your partners. You need to create a moment of commonality.”

Toward the end of the session, when Bardem was asked about what advice he has for aspiring actors just making their start in the industry, he joked: “Choose another job. Why would you do that to yourself?” He then continued: “No, it’s a great profession. And in this world of AI, where many other professions are going to go, unfortunately, down, to be able to be a person who shows emotions and has a connection with the audience, it’s an important job to have and to preserve, because it creates a connection between us.”

Florian Zeller’s Bunker, also starring Stephen Graham, Paul Dano and Patrick Schwarzenegger, follows a renowned architect offered the chance to secretly design a survival bunker for a billionaire who is convinced that the end of the world is near. As he lets himself be seduced by this morally ambiguous project, his wife begins to question their marriage.

Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s The Beloved, meanwhile, stars Bardem as a two-time Oscar-winning filmmaker who casts his estranged daughter in his new period piece.

The 70th BFI London Film Festival runs Oct. 7-18.

John Malkovich is well aware of his current awards momentum, even if the “onslaught” of attention doesn’t quite suit his “native personality.”

The U.S. star has hit the festival circuit with Martin McDonagh’s tragicomedy Wild Horse Nine, his performance in which is being hailed as potentially the best of his career and almost certainly an Oscar nomination lock. It isn’t the first Academy Award nod he’ll have earned — he’s been recognized before in 1985 and 1994 for Places in the Heart and In the Line of Fire, respectively — but at a BFI London Film Festival talk on Sunday afternoon, the actor conceded the awards campaign is an entirely different beast in 2026.

“[I feel] probably different [about awards consideration] than I did [when In the Line of Fire came out] because the movie business existed [and] it maintained, undeservedly in my opinion, a very high position in the culture. And when I say undeserved, [I] mean there weren’t that many Chinatowns or Godfathers or Godfather IIs,” he began. “Now, [the awards trail] is the only way to get people to go to the theaters, the whole thing, and that’s months and months and months.”

He recalled being nominated for Places in the Heart and going to his first and only Oscars in 1985. He was in the car and asked his “a little bit bossy” manager, Phyllis, if he could go in through a side door. “‘Honey, it’s the Oscars,’” she clicked in his face. “There is no side door!” The entire room of attendees burst into laughter at Malkovich’s story. “So that’s my native personality in the face of that onslaught,” he said about embarking on another campaign for Wild Horse Nine. “But also, I’m a grown-up. It’s a part of the business now.”

He remembered that his early films made their money even before the big Oscar night. “Now, [winning an Oscar] seems to be the only way you get people to actually go to a theater.” When asked if it broke his heart after Malkovich admitted he’s unsure his daughter would consider going to the theater these days, Malkovich simply said: “No, because I’m 72 years old. Things change. I don’t really like thinking, ‘Things aren’t what they used to be.’ They just change, and you either change with them or die. And I prefer to change with them.”

Wild Horse Nine stars Malkovich and Sam Rockwell as Chris and Lee, longtime CIA partners stationed in Santiago, Chile who are dispatched to Easter Island by their bureau chief (Steve Buscemi). Against the surreal backdrop of the island’s monumental Moai statues, the pair begin reckoning with their murky shared past. At the same time, Chris forms an unexpected bond with two rebellious Chilean students, played by Mariana di Girolamo and Ailín Salas — an encounter that threatens to unravel the agents’ friendship and the conspiracy in which they have become entangled.

The BFI London Film Festival premiere of the film took place on Friday night, where Malkovich, Rockwell and McDonagh made an appearance at the glitzy red carpet event.

Naturally, Malkovich was asked about a running theme in many of his movies — the Kennedy assassination — particularly because his character in Wild Horse Nine is implied to have played a major part in the death of the former U.S. President. When asked about his personal opinion on the matter, the actor replied: “I know what didn’t happen is what they said happened.”

Malkovich described McDonagh as a “great writer” and a “direct, kind” filmmaker. “He can give great notes,” he continued. “He told me about one of the scenes with big heads… He just came over and said, ‘More David Attenborough,’ which I just thought was one of the greatest notes, and which I didn’t do very well.”

He likened his co-star Rockwell to “a trainer at SeaWorld feeding fish to a shark.” Confused chuckles from the audience had Malkovich explaining: “If you watch him 20 times, you get a good idea of how good he is at that… He’s such a great colleague, such a wonderful actor, and so fantastic in this, everything he does is perfect, and he can go any which way at any second.”

Malkovich confessed he is “not a political person,” but said Wild Horse Nine is wildly existential and evocative when it comes to themes of grief and mortality.

He covered the milestones of a vast and vibrant career across Sunday’s session, from Dangerous Liaisons and working with Clint Eastwood to the West End and how he came to star in 1999’s Being John Malkovich, a set on which Malkovich admitted to “having a moment” and “being an asshole” when filming on a particularly hot day. He even discussed a little of his ancestry — Malkovich recently discovered he is 43 percent Romanian — and the rarity of reading a genuinely brilliant script.

“It’s so rare to read a great screenplay and make a really excellent film. And you can work as hard as you like. You can give a really interesting performance, and if the film isn’t very good, it’s absolutely meaningless,” said Malkovich. “It doesn’t mean anything. It’s totally waste of your time in the public.”

To end, Malkovich was probed on his film set to be released next century, 100 Years, from director Robert Rodriguez. To his knowledge, the movie currently sits behind bulletproof glass in a vault and will open in the year 2115. “I have tickets,” the actor joked. “I don’t think I’ll be at the opening night. You know, my grandchildren won’t even be here as well.”

The 70th BFI London Film Festival runs Oct. 7-18.