Playing a villain in Hollywood easier, says Javier Bardem

He makes bad look really good in films.

Javier Bardem, the Oscar-winning Spanish superstar, says given his limitations with the English language, he finds it easier to portray villainous roles in Hollywood as they are "more connected to the impulse".

"I won't do anything which I don't enjoy. When I do anything in English, then the language is a barrier for me. I struggle with it. Performing and acting is about freedom and letting yourself go.

"When you are working in a language which you don't control, there is always reigns holding you back. That is why playing a villain is easier because I am more connected to the impulse, to the fury and to the emotions to express myself," Bardem said.

Bardem has already played two iconic Hollywood villains – the ruthless killer, Anton Chigurh, in No Country For Old Men and a cyber-terrorist Raoul Silva opposite Daniel Craig's James Bond in Skyfall.

The 48-year-old star returns to the space with Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar's Revenge where he is in the role of the main antagonist, Captain Armando Salazar. The Disney film, led by Johnny Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow, releases on May 26.

Apart from "Pirates", the actor has two more films lined up for release – Darren Aronofsky's mother! and a Pablo Escobar biopic.

Bardem, whose wife, actor Penelope Cruz, was in the last Pirates film On Stranger Tides, says he was surprised when producer Jerry Bruckheimer offered him a role in the film.

"I felt honoured but very surprised. It is a franchise that I have seen years ago and I really enjoyed it. It is huge at every level – artistically, creatively and also as a movie.

When I read the script, I thought that it was a character I could have fun with."

The actor says he would often visit his wife on the sets of "Pirates 4" and had even jokingly asked why he was not cast in the film, not knowing that his turn will come soon.