Penelope Cruz On Kissing Meryl Streep: ‘She Must Think I’m Some Crazy Person’

Penelope Cruz likes to show Meryl Streep love.

“We only know each other from seeing each other at awards ceremonies or those kinds of events, but whenever I see her, I always go up to her and start kissing her,” Penelope said in the December/January issue of Interview Magazine. “I don’t even say anything – I just kiss her. She must think I’m some crazy person.”

Speaking to her “Nine” co-star and fellow Oscar winner Marion Cotillard, the Spanish star said she thinks Meryl is the best there is.

“There is nobody better,” she said. “I watch her movies over and over again. I saw ‘Silkwood’ again a couple of weeks ago, and it made me just want to kiss her feet.”

Still, Penelope herself has won praise (and awards) for roles in movies such as “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” and “Volver” – and she credits a lighter schedule and the wisdom of age.

“I was very addicted to being on set, and I was doing three or four movies a year for many years,” she said. “Now, fortunately, I can go to work only when I am passionate about a project. When I go to work now, I have so much more to give.”

And the rest of the time, she’s living her life – Interview caught up with her in Bali, where she was reportedly alongside “real-life love interest” Javier Bardem. Access Hollywood spotted the pair holding hands in LA at a movie screening of “Up in the Air” earlier this week. But Penelope kept quiet on her leading man with the mag, talking instead about her favorite places.

“I really like the Caribbean. Any place in the Caribbean. I get there, and I feel like a monkey—the perfect state,” she laughed. “Of course, I also like [Madrid] very much because I live there part of the time.”

If the star – known for her fiery roles – sounds mellow, it may be thanks to being able to separate herself from her characters.

“You have to look deeply inside of yourself to find something to use in your work,” she said. “But the older I am, the more I refuse to treat my work as therapy and the more I think it’s less honest to do that, less about acting. When

I was younger, I sometimes used personal things in creating characters, to the point where I thought maybe it was a little bit dangerous—at least for me.”