Actress Penélope Cruz gave her opinion on viewing films in traditional movie theaters versus streaming from home and defended the "ritual" of visiting theaters.
The actress discussed changes in the entertainment industry in the post-Covid-19 world during Monday's "BAFTA: A Life in Pictures" event in London. Cruz attended the event in promotion of the upcoming biographical drama, Ferrari, set for release on Dec. 25. The film stars Adam Driver as the titular Enzo Ferrari opposite Cruz as Ferrari's wife, Laura.
“It’s a ritual that I hope the world doesn’t lose because it is real magic,” Cruz said, per Variety. “The experience of watching a film in a theater can never be the same as watching it in your house with interruptions and a phone or this and that.”
Cruz said the act of seeing a film wasn't "sacred" anymore with the rise of streaming films at home.
"That time of you’re here, you turn off the phone and you’re going to be focused on this activity for two hours. That doesn’t happen at home," she said. "So I am a big defender of every movie having at least a few weeks of theatrical release because it’s just sad to lose that. It’s sad for new generations not to experience that.”
Cruz also discussed her role in the upcoming Ferrari biopic.
“The people that knew her very well loved her, but people in the streets would say things that I didn’t like, like ‘Oh no, she was just a very difficult woman. She was just crazy,’” Cruz said of her character. “And I would tell them, ‘Do you know that she used to sleep with the tires during some races so that nobody would steal them or break them?’ ‘No, that’s impossible. She has no relation to Ferrari whatsoever.’ ‘And did you know that she was one of the first investors?’ They just wanted to make less of her.”
The actress discussed struggles women faced during the inception of the luxury sports car.
“I saw that there was no compassion for her — probably because she was involved in the business and that was not welcome," she said. "It was, in those years, very difficult for a woman to have a voice in a company like that."
According to Cruz, women still live "in the shadow of men." “I don’t like when, you know, it’s always said in our profession, ‘It’s great how much things have changed’ because it is a lie," she added. "Things have not changed that much.”
