QUICK TAKES - March 14, 2009

Penelope Cruz, making her first public appearance in her native Spain since she won an Academy Award last month, told reporters Friday that the gold statue she received for “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” had made the trip with her from her home in California.

“The Oscar has come with me to Spain, and I am going to leave it here,” she told a news conference in Madrid to promote her new film with frequent collaborator Pedro Almodovar, “Los Abrazos Rotos” (Broken Embraces). “For now, I have no idea what this award is going to mean for me.”

Almodovar, standing by her side, tried to help her get an idea. In 2000, his film “All About My Mother” won the Oscar for foreign film, and he earned the original screenplay award in 2003 for “Talk to Her.”

He said: “The Oscar is the only prize that is treated like a living thing. People and friends call you to come over and meet it.”