Penélope Cruz at Vanity Fair‘s Screening Room at LACMA on November 13, 2026Hunter Abrams
The directors also consider having Cruz play a small but pivotal role in the film to be part of their living a dream. When Martin asked Cruz how her longstanding allyship to the LGBTQ+ community shaped her intention or performance, she said, “I don’t even ask myself that question because it’s such a part of me, of the way that I was raised. My very young parents, my parents had me when they were 21. It was a house where the values were about respect and it was just like breathing. They didn’t even have to sit us down and give us a lecture about it, it was the way my family was living by example. And on top of that, then I had my other master Pedro Almodóvar who I’ve worked with for seven movies. And I always remember growing up thinking, why is he not the president of our country? Because he was huge in a time where his presence was really necessary, not only through his films, but also by the things that he was saying. So I feel like all of that has shaped me.”
She continued: “So when I have in my hands the possibility of playing somebody like Nené Romero, that is a reminder that unfortunately not everyone in the world feels the way we feel about everyone having a right for respect, everyone having a right to be themselves.”