'Sun' shines at Latino fest

Les Deux Café's after party full of stars

By BEN FRITZ

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Actor Edward James Olmos chats with 'Mondays in the Sun' star Javier Bardem and director Fernando Leon de Aranoa at the after-party

 

The title proved entirely appropriate Monday night as Spanish pic "Mondays in the Sun" had its L.A. bow to a packed house at the Egyptian Theater.

On hand for the screening, part of the Los Angeles Latino Film Festival, were star Javier Bardem and helmer Fernando Leon de Aranoa. The pair discussed the film, which won a number of Spain's prestigious Goya Awards, primarily in their native tongue, with Bardem warning the few non-Spanish speakers in the audience, "You've got a problem."

Asked why he took on the role of an angry unemployed shipbuilder, the thesp said, "The part is so well written that everything is in there and you really don't have to act anything, thank God."

A number of top Latino stars were on hand for the screening and after-party at Les Deux Cafe, including Benicio Del Toro, Lupe Ontiveros and Edward James Olmos, along with Tom Ortenberg, president of Lions Gate, which begins its U.S. release of the film this week.