An
Interview with Antonio Banderas
Antonio
Banderas is definitely riding high these days. After receiving
a Tony nomination this past spring, his current run on Broadway
on the Tony Award-winning Nine is coming to an end by the end
of October, he scored another hit in theaters with “Spy
Kids 3D- Game Over”. That film has gone on to gross over
$100M domestically. I was lucky enough to meet and sit down with
Spaniard actor to talk about his upcoming film Once Upon A Time
In Mexico while making his press rounds here in NYC. We spoke
about his next collaboration with Robert Rodriguez in Once Upon
a Time in Mexico, the follow up to “Desperado” and
“El Mariachi” and some interesting things about his
other future projects like Zorro 2 and Shrek 2. Here is what he
to say:
 KC:
What’s the draw to playing the role?
Antonio: The
character was the first leading character I received when I came
to the States, and it’s also who’s behind the character,
Robert Rodriguez. I’ve worked with him 6 times already and
I feel comfortable with him, not only in the professional aspect
but in the human aspect I am because he’s a friend. It’s
a pleasure to go back and work on the Spy Kids films and Desperado
follow-up. Whenever he needs me for a film, I will be there.
KC: What’s
the worst part?
Antonio: The
worst part is probably how physically and demanding it is. From
1994 to now, I started to get older and the bones start to hurt
when you have to jump out of a window. That’s the worst
part and the best part, like I said before, is finding out that
you are working with friends. There isn’t so much explanation
that you have to do in order to recognize each other when you
have Robert Rodriguez there. I know what he wants. In fact we
have been practicing this even from the beginning when we first
did the movie. Sometimes he allowed me to direct some of the scenes
because he didn’t have time. He needed to watch other scenes
take place. There’s the confidence he has in me; especially
now with the digital system that he’s using. It gives him
the freedom to keep shooting.
KC: Do you think that
Mexicans will complain about the way they are portrayed in the
film?
Antonio: I don’t
know, but it’s not all of Mexico that we are describing.
It’s only a side of the country. This film is made with
a lot of sense of humor and wit. There are other aspects of Mexico
that’s in the film that’s beautiful like the architecture
and some interesting people like my character for example.
KC: Are you up to
doing more sequels to this film?
Antonio: Like
I said before, with Robert Rodriguez, I would follow him to hell.
I don’t care what part he offers me, I’m fine working
for him, so I could do another film, but I don’t think he
wants to do any more sequels to Desperado. I think this film finishes
the cycle. But you never know. If we open up with $60 million
dollars, someone will say to him, “Please do another one!”
I don’t know what’s going to happen but I think this
is it.
 KC:
Do you think he will do a film with Johnny Depp based
on his character in the film? How was working with him?
Antonio: With
Johnny Depp’s character, I don’t know. Johnny’s
a sweet man. I didn’t have that many scenes with him in
the film. It was just one scene in a bar and the rest of the time
we were communicating over the phone and stuff like that, so we
didn’t have to work together so much but that day was excellent
and we had a lot of fun. I like Johnny. Of his generation, he’s
totally different from the rest of the actors. He’s made
some beautiful choices on the screen that are different and special.
I like him very much.
KC: How was working
with Enrique Iglesias?
Antonio: It was
good because he approached the work like anyone would when they
are new and he did it with humbleness. He arrived there asking
for help, and that is exactly what he received. Not only from
Robert Rodriguez, but also from myself and anyone who could help
him out with what he needed. Not everyone could do what he does,
singing on stage in front of 70,000 people. That’s what
he does. I would be humble as he is, asking everyone how you do
that.
KC: With regards to
the theater show, “Nine”, now that your run is almost
over, would you consider doing another production?
Antonio: Yeah.
The reason I didn’t do theater in America first was because
I was afraid of performing in our language, especially on Broadway,
where people are very picky. We have audiences that are much trained
in theater, especially musical theater. I was afraid of that so
I stop doing musical theater, which is something I did at the
beginning of my career. The beginning of my career started with
theater, movies came way after. I started in 1974, and did my
first film in 1981. But nobody knew that about me here in the
States. Now that I have done it, the house is open for business.
I have some proposals now. I have Cy Coleman with a new musical
based on Napoleon that I would like to just revise and see if
it’s the right vehicle for me. There are also some plays
that are not musicals that I would like to do as well. But I have
to spread them in time and coordinate them with the movies I would
like to do as an actor. I’m also writing these days and
would like to direct again. I would like to do this in Spain,
in my own country, and in the next couple of years. There are
many things going on, but what I have in mind right now is rest.
I am extremely tired. I have done 182 performances of “Nine”
without missing one. That would be my goal, to arrive on the 5th
of October without missing any performances. For me, that is a
statement that I want to make. I didn’t come here just to
say, “I can act, and I’m going!” I would like
to go from A to Z, and stay committed with what I’m doing
and after that I’m going to go to Spain and spend some time
with my family. And after that, on the 23rd of November, if you
want to see Antonio Banderas, he will be in the mountains in Aspen,
Colorado with his kids ready for the opening of the tracks. I
will be there until probably “Zorro” starts to shoot.
That will happen at the end of March and the beginning of April.
 KC:
How did you feel when your wife (Melanie Griffith)
was embraced by not only audiences, but then, by various serious
critics, for her performance in the theater production of “Chicago”?
Antonio: I felt
like Heaven. We didn’t plan on being on Broadway together.
She was called to do “Chicago” 2 to 3 years ago and
she said no at the time. So when I came here, the producers of
“Chicago” very smartly came to her again and she accepted.
That happened after I had opened up already with “Nine”
and it was successful and it received good reviews and awards
and nominations and the audiences seemed to like it very much.
For this story to be completed, Melanie also has to be also happy.
It would have been very sad if one of us would have made it and
the other didn’t. We would only have half of a smile. But
that’s not going to happen. On the 5th of October, we are
going to go out with a big smile, mission totally accomplished
and happy to have the opportunity of sharing with audiences our
way of doing theater, our talent if you want, with them every
night for a period of time, and it’s time for us to say
goodbye. I don’t want to trap myself on the stage. There’s
a moment when you are doing a play like this that it becomes so
demanding. It didn’t happen so much, but a couple of times,
it happened to me where I would say to myself, “It’s
time to go.” It becomes like “Groundhog Day”.
I think it’s time for me to say goodbye. John Stamos is
coming to do my character next and he’s going to bring new
fresh air to the play. Chita (Rivera) and Jane (Krawkoski) are
also leaving, so that’s the way things have to be.
KC: How do you manage
with the critics when you and Melanie are in the same town doing
Broadway?
Antonio: If the
critics are good, there is no problem. If not, then you have issues.
KC: When will you
work again in Spanish?
Antonio: I don’t
know. I made an agreement with Pedro Almodovar 2 years ago at
the Cannes Film Festival. We have been talking about it every
time we see each other and I’m ready.
KC: Can you compare
the works of Pedro (Almodovar) and Robert (Rodriguez)?
Antonio: It’s
a different satisfaction. I don’t know if you like motorcycles
but I do, and when I ride my dirt bike, it has nothing to do when
I ride my Harley. There are both good motorcycles but totally
different. Pedro is deeper. He goes to explain the human relationship
in many different aspects and Robert Rodriguez is more formal,
especially with Spy Kids. What interested me in doing Spy Kids
was the possibility that you have to laugh at yourself which is
very healthy nowadays.
KC: What was it like
seeing “Pancho Villa”, the HBO film, with an audience?
Antonio: It was
great. I was surprised because I have a videotape that HBO had
sent me and I saw it and I like it but when I saw it on the big
screen I realized the tremendous scope of the film. This is a
film that down in Hollywood, it would have cost at least $120
million dollars or more to make. We did the whole thing for $20
million dollars and it looks big. I’m very satisfied with
that work in Pancho Villa, very very satisfied.
 KC:
You mentioned doing “Zorro” sometime next
year. What’s the plot to the sequel?
Antonio: That’s
(Zorro) another landmark actually in my career, and to work with
Steven Spielberg is not that bad. I had a great time when I shot
the first one. It was a lot of fun. Steven came to the theater
a few weeks ago to see “Nine” and said to me, “We
want to do a different approach to Zorro this time. We want to
make more of an adult movie, and we are going to talk about much
more human stuff. There’s going to be issues with jealousy
going on in the second part, and more relationship between you
and your wife.” And of course there’s
going to be stunts and all that stuff but they are going to make
the film a little bit more deeper than the first one was, and
I thought that was an interesting approach instead of going for
the popcorn straight forward; they wanted to do something a little
more complex than that. I thought that was interesting too. We’ll
see.
KC: When are you going
to start filming and where?
Antonio: If everything
goes as planed we will begin filming at the end of March beginning
of April. We will probably start shooting in San Miguel De Allende,
Mexico. [Laughs] I practically live there now, going back and
forth from the states to San Miguel all the time. [Antonio filmed
Once Upon A Time in Mexico, Pancho Villa in San Miguel]
 KC:
Are you done shooting “Shrek 2”?
Antonio: You
never stop because the process of making a movie like that is
so weird. They call you, you do some scenes, and they try the
scenes with first drawings. Monday I did like my 3rd session,
and it’s very interesting because they put cameras on you
so they can just copy your expressions and they put it on the
cartoon later. It’s a very interesting process how they
do that and they brought some of the material there and we just
cracked up cause it was unbelievable. The character [Puss-in-Boots]
is very, very [does Spaniard imitation] Spanish guy, beautiful
cat and the story is fantastic. And they are going to present
the second one in Cannes Film Festival in 2004. It’s just
a cool story actually.
KC: Do you have any
ambitions to direct again?
Antonio: I’m
writing these days and I’m writing with the purpose of directing
in Spain. Despite the fact that I have spent the last 14 years
of my life here in the States, my memories are in Spain. I have
raw stories I would like to tell from there and if it’s
possible to do a Spanish production with everybody speaking in
Spanish, with producing in Spain and doing the whole process there.
If I’m lucky and everything goes on track, in a couple of
years, I may be doing that.
KC: What sort of story
would you like to tell?
Antonio: I have
a couple of stories going on such as the story of Boabdil. Boabdil
was the last Caliph of the Kingdom of Granada, after the Arabs
were in Spain for eight centuries. He was not meant to be king
but his father was expelled from the throne and accidentally fate
put him in a place where he didn’t want to be. He was a
mathematician and astronomer, a poet, and a humorist. He had to
deal with the last remains of eight centuries of domination by
Arabs in Spain. He’s a guy who seen a whole entire kingdom
falling apart with the Catholic king and queen coming in and taking
it over. It’s an interesting approach, very Shakespearian
kind of drama, but I would like to write about that. There are
several books written about the subject. There’s a fantastic
book written by Washing Irving called “The Chronicle of
the Conquest of Granada” and I may based the movie on it.
I have to put all this together. I’m now writing by myself
but I’m using actually different sources.
KC: Do you see yourself
being in the film you are directing?
Antonio: I don’t
know. I’m afraid of directing myself. I’m even shy
to do my own close-ups. I prefer to bring in someone new for me
to direct than direct myself. I don’t know how some people
do it, but it’s a little dizzy for me.
KC: Can you talk about
“Imagining Argentina”?
Antonio: It’s
going to be presented at the Venice Film Festival in competition.
It’s a movie with two heads. One head is political and social
and the other head is a supernatural thriller. That’s a
very, very strong combination to get a movie to entice audiences
to see it. It’s raw. No firecrackers. It’s shot like
it is, an independent movie, made with very little money. It was
very emotional from a human point of view and extremely political.
Movies have many purposes, and like your comment before on Spy
Kids or Pedro Almodovar, there are two different ways of approaching
this art. This one is absolutely necessary .There are generations
that need to know what was going on in Argentina, for example,
at that time. But in 1976, people were disappearing, literally
and the story has never really been told in movies, except for
a couple like “The Official Story”, but that film
doesn’t actually go straight into the story about the possibility
the kid that they adopted is actually the son of someone who disappeared
and I don’t know from a cinematic point of view how the
movie will do, if it’s good or bad, but I felt very proud
of doing something like that.
 KC:
There is a lot of violence in “Once Upon a Time
in Mexico”, offset by a lot of humor. What would you say
to people who might feel shy or awkward in seeing this film, and
may not stand for the amount of violence in it? What’s your
feeling about this?
Antonio: I think
the violence in the film is choreographic. It’s surrounded
by a lot of sense of humor. I think movies where you don’t
kill anybody are way more aggressive, more violent than this one
is, and in the world that we are living in today, all you need
to see violence is to put feeling for five minutes, right now
probably. And if it’s not there, then throwing you from
there (from my seat to the wall) would be unbelievable. I think
Robert’s approach doesn’t hurt anybody. Obviously
there are certain people and certain ages that shouldn’t
be allowed to get into the movie theater, and that’s why
the movie is PG-something. That’s why those ratings exist.
I’d say we (Antonio and Robert) are not the kind of guys
who thinks that movies bring violence. The proof is that in Julius
Caesar’s time there were no movies and they were killing
each other, so violence was already there, way before the movies.
KC: Did you do the
stunts yourself in this film?
Antonio: Yeah.
They had me just hanging there like a “piñata”
for three days. It was very funny because Selma Hayek was coming
in from (doing) Frida and she was coming in with this aura of
“actress”, serious actress and Robert said to me,
“Look at her.” He hung her up and said, “You
look like a piñata”. She was insulting him all the
time. “You monster, look at what you are doing to me!”
she would say. Robert would say, “Stay there. That’s
your position.” It was fun working with these guys again.
But at the same time we wouldn’t get caught up with ourselves.
We know we have to present this to audiences all around the world
and try to be serious. It’s not like we were having a party.
We worked very tough, but at the same to be surrounded with this
type of friendships, it helps.
KC: Did you and Enrique
talk about making music together?
Antonio: No.
If I do something musically, I do it because I play the guitar.
I have a studio in Los Angeles, but I don’t want to do something
in terms of commercialism. I don’t want to make a big amount
of money. I don’t want to become a Ricky Martin kind of
thing. Besides, I don’t think I can. First of all, I am
43 years old already and the girls are interested in younger guys
than me. Some of the stuff I have done is jazzy, not commercial.
Enrique goes to another territory where it can sell so many records.
If it (the music) can be applied to drama, to dramatic purpose,
like musical theater, then yes, I would record an album, or if
I do “Evita”. But I’m not pursuing a musical
career or anything like that.
KC: How would you
comment to Mexicans who complain about you being a Spaniard playing
a Mexican part?
Antonio: Anthony
Quinn was a Mexican actor, very famous around the world. He wouldn’t
have a career if he would have done this film years ago because
he played a Russian pope, he played an Italian Estrada, he played
Zorba the Greek, and he played an Eskimo. He played multicultural
characters half of his career. The symbol of Georgia is Scarlet
O’Hara and she was from London. The ultimate proof for me
that I was right picking out this character was given to me by
Pancho Villa himself. He didn’t have a problem with a guy
from America called Raul who had blue eyes and blonde hair to
play himself and he was still alive so why am I going to be more
Pancho than Pancho.
ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO
OPENS SEPT 12
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