Bardem is in negotiations to voice a new villain in "Despicable Me 2," the sequel to Universal and Illumination's 2010 hit.
John Shearer/Getty ImagesMADRID – Spanish actor Javier Bardem has thrown his weight behind the Robert F. Kennedy Center’s Speak Truth To Power initiative, spearheaded by Kerry Kennedy.
Bardem and Kennedy gave a presentation in Madrid Thursday on the educational project targeted at 15 to 18-year-old students and based on Kennedy’s book of the same title, which was released in 2000 and included testimonies and opinions on human rights from 51 international figures, including Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama. Speak Truth to Power is a global educational initiative that uses the experiences of courageous human rights defenders from around the world to inspire young people to take action.
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Kennedy, the seventh of Ethel and Robert Kennedy’s 11 children, and Bardem met each other through the actor’s personal advocacy on behalf of the Saharawi people and their plight as refugees in the Western Sahara. Bardem told the crowd of journalists gathered in Madrid for his and Kennedy’s presentation that he simply knocked on her door and asked if he could help. The actor gained a reputation for human rights work after he produced and starred in the 2012 documentary Sons of the Clouds, which looks at how colonization of the Western Sahara has left nearly 200,000 people living in refugee camps.
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