Penelope Cruz and Pedro Almodóvar have one of cinema’s great partnerships. The two Spanish stars have made seven films together, with Cruz revealing that she hopes to make “many more” in the years to come. Cruz was recently featured on the “Smartless” podcast, discussing her career with Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, and Sean Hayes. She discussed her friendship with Almodóvar, which, as she shares it, was written in the stars.

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“We have a very special connection,” said Cruz. Cruz revealed that she first stumbled into Almodóvar’s career while in the privacy of her room. Her dad rented VHS tapes and she used to watch movies over and over, studying them if she really loved them, and falling in love with movie stars and directors. Almodóvar was one of those loves.

Cruz shared that she knew she and Almodóvar would have a great connection before meeting each other. “Not because I was good,” she said, “Just because I thought that he saw the world in a very similar way that I did since I was a little girl.”

Cruz saw Almodóvar without meeting him numerous times, since she used to go to the bars and movie theaters that he frequented. “Actually I got into one of the sets without permission when I was 15. He was doing “High Heels” and he was shooting with Victoria Abril, one of my favorite actresses.“

“I just walked in, nobody stopped me, I sat very close to the monitor and nobody said anything. And he looked at me for a few seconds, like ‘Do I know you?’ That was enough for me for that day. To be able to spy and be there for a couple of hours.”

The day Cruz and Almodovar finally met

Cruz revealed that their meeting finally came years later, after she’d worked on two films. “Somebody said to me, Almodóvar is on the phone,” said Cruz. “And I was drying my hair, preparing for classes and I said, ‘Yeah, right.’ It took me like five minutes to react. Is it for real, that dreams so specific become a reality?”

Cruz recapped their relationship quite succinctly: “He’s one of the loves of my life.”