JAVIER BARDEM - BARDEM'S HARROWING RESEARCH

Spanish star JAVIER BARDEM was forced to watch a horrific video of euthanasia campaigner RAMON SAMPEDRO's "assisted suicide" to research his role in MAR ADENTO (THE SEA INSIDE).

Canary Islands-native Bardem plays quadriplegic Sampedro, who fought a 30-year campaign for the right to die and ended his life by drinking cyanide in January 1998 in front of a video camera.

Bardem explains, "Very few people have seen it - maybe five or six.

"It was one hour, 30 minutes. Thirty minutes of him looking at the camera and making this final statement. Then an hour of his agony, which is painful to watch.

"But I had to watch it because we were committed to bring him to the audience. I was trying to grab those details that make his final moment so, so important."