He may not be religious in the conventional sense, but Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar is calling on God to help Penelope Cruz’s Oscar campaign.

“I pray every night for Penelope to be nominated,” Almodovar told a Toronto filmfest press conference yesterday about Cruz’s performance in his lush new film Volver, a drama about the wonderful world of women that he grew up with in La Mancha.

“It doesn’t depend on me but I think she absolute deserves it!”

Cruz, ravishing on screen and in person at the Toronto festival, quietly demurred after Almodovar made his declaration.

“I agree for him to be nominated for this movie, because he really deserves it,” she said of the filmmaker who helped launch her career before she went international and became a bankable Hollywood star.

Cruz returned to her homeland to star in Volver and made history as one of five women in the film to share the best actress prize at the 2006 Cannes festival.

“It is too early to talk about (it),” Almodovar said, deciding to talk about Cruz’s Oscar chances anyway.

“This is material for the medias to talk about. But sometimes we do talk about it and I tell her: ‘Don’t talk about it. Don’t think about it!’ Because I have to prepare her to be disappointed.”

No Spanish-speaking actress in a Spanish-speaking role has ever garnered a best actress Oscar nomination. Almodovar thinks that it is time.

“I do say that she absolutely deserves a nomination for this character. As a director, you have the privilege to be the first one to see the actor work. It is such a big pleasure when you are just there when something is happening in front of the camera.”

Cruz was told by press conference moderator Henri Behar that, when he watched Volver, it looked as if she was having “the most fun” she has had on a movie set in years.

“Ever!” Cruz replied. “And I’ve had a lot of fun many times in my career. But this has been the most complete experience in many ways. I completely fell in love with the character.”

Cruz plays a woman whose life with her daughter is turned into a chaotic nightmare with the violent death of her husband. Then she takes over a restaurant, cooks up a storm and later travels home to La Mancha, where family secrets and perhaps the ghost of her mother will haunt her. It sounds morbid but, as usual, Almodovar delivers his unique stories with panache, bold colours and vitality.

Almodovar said he decided to present Cruz full and ripe so she would represent motherhood, at least as he sees it. So he plumped up her hair, dressed her in bold designs and padded her butt to make her look more voluptuous. But he left her breasts alone.

“Here nature did the best thing,” an impish Almodovar said as he pointed to Cruz’s heaving bosom. “So I just needed to decide the clothes. Breasts not only attract men but give milk to the children —because the movie talks about motherhood in a very powerful way.

“The ass is very important as well,” Almodovar said, “and she is not as ample in that sense. She is very stylized.”

Listeners looked perplexed. Behar asked him what he meant. “Slender,” Almodovar explained, getting tripped up on his own translation from the Spanish.

“The reference in this case was the fake bottom of Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie,” Almodovar said. “It was so well-sized that I said: ‘This is what I want on her.’ ”

For Cruz, the most important aspect of her character was her fire. “Closer to my heart, and also easier in a way, is any character that has that wild temper,” Cruz said. “Because that’s what connects me, even though I am shy and I don’t show that part of me. But, when I get all those monsters out, (it is) something that really, really connects with our temperament and our way to express feelings.”