Javier Bardem Stars as Goldfish in Chiswick-based Film
Walking Fernando features scenes around Bollo Lane
Fernando (left) and with Fabienne Piolini-Castle as Nadia (right) in offices in Chiswick
March 9, 2025
Oscar-winning actor, Javier Bardem is playing the title role in a new short film due to be released this week featuring many scenes in Chiswick.
He voices the part of a goldfish in Walking Fernando which is directed by Max Mir, a Spanish film-maker who managed to persuade the A lister to work on a project with a budget of just £6,000.
The film starts in the offices of a travel agency based in the offices near the level crossing on Bollo Lane. Nadia, played by Fabienne Piolini-Castle is asked to work late on a Friday evening with just a fishbowl for company.
When all her colleagues have left, the fish tells her to stop staring at her and Javier Bardem announces that he is “Fernando the Boneless, ruler of all seas, explorer of the unknown and conqueror of all thinking minds but otherwise a goldfish.” This made him somewhat less intimidating than he was in his Academy Award winning role as Anton Chigurh in the Coen Brothers' western drama film No Country for Old Men.
He demands to be taken for a walk and Nadia takes him out onto Bollo Lane where he is very taken by the ‘grey tones’. She carries Fernando in the bowl along Ivy Crescent and looks longingly at her co-workers enjoying post work drinks at the Bollo House.
She then takes Fernando to the West End walking through the streets north of Bond Street before ending up in Northala Fields in Northolt where Fernando demands to be taken up a kids’ castle.
Nadia takes Fernando outside the office by the level crossing on Bollo Lane
After they have a row, she abandons him and is next see exiting Dean Gardens in West Ealing by Uxbridge Road, but she reconsiders her decision and returns to Fernando before carrying out his wish to be deposited in a pond.
Max Mir says, “Walking Fernando is a testament to no-budget filmmaking being trusted and acknowledged by high-profile talent, and the film’s story is a relevant and inspiring one for those who feel trapped in their daily routine. I don't have any connections to the film industry and before this project I could only dream of having someone like Javier attached.”
Despite the participation of a major global star, the film very nearly didn’t get made as it was plagued with problems through production. The first shoot date coincided with the death of Queen Elizabeth and councils and landlords were unwilling to refund the project money for a revised filming schedule. This combined with thunderstorms and actors dropping out meant that Max felt “the world did not want us to make this film” but he praised the cast and production team for seeing it through.
Nadia walks with Fernando through the Acton Green area
The 14-minute film, which will have a digital release on 12 March, has already played at 28 film festivals, received 12 nominations, and won 4 awards, including “Best Young Director” at the Festival Antonio Ferrandis de Paterna in Spain.
This is not the first time Javier Bardem has had a connection with the Chiswick area. When was torturing James Bond in the 2012 film Skyfall as the evil Raoul Silva, the chair he was sitting from had been sourced from the Old Cinema on Chiswick High Road.
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