You must be doing something right in Hollywood to get a star on the Walk of Fame. Antonio Banderas is doing just that; just last week, the Spaniard was honored with the accolade.

And what good timing – Antonio’s big screen return to Zorro comes to theaters this Friday, October 28th with The Legend of Zorro. It’s been seven years (1998) since The Mask of Zorro.

Of course, Latino Review was the first source to report the return of Antonio to the masked hero back when I spoke to him for Once Upon A Time In Mexico (2003). Antonio is teaming up again with Catherine Zeta-Jones and director Martin Campbell for this one, but it’s not just the two veteran actors doing the brunt work; their ten year old son, Joaquin, is getting into the mix as well.

Antonio talked to Latino Review about The Legend of Zorro. Here’s what he had to say:

So Antonio its been 7 seven years since The Mask of Zorro, did you pull your “Zorro” sword out of mothballs?

Antonio Banderas: Yeah. I didn't practice the very much for seven years in the middle. I didn't have an intruder in the house or anything like that. But what we did basically for the second part is just to refresh everything that we learned from the first time. Somehow, sword fighting or fencing in general is like riding bicycles. Once you know you never forget, but there's new choreography. But it's like a dance. That's what it is, with an edge. The edge is very dangerous when you're carrying a real sword in your hands. So once in a while it's potentially dangerous.

What was it like putting the mask and the cape on again after 7 years?

Antonio Banderas: It was more painful this time [Laughs]. Supposedly because I'm 45 now and every time that I crash somewhere the bones start telling you you’re 45. But it was way harder than the first one, way harder. I suppose it’s not only because I’m 7 years older, but it's just because it that aspect a little bit harder.

Would you have preferred that the movie be done sooner than seven years?

Antonio Banderas: There's a moment that you have a feeling that the movies don't belong to you anymore. They belong to the audiences and movies like this are the audience who decided at the end if there's going to be a sequel or not. I suppose what happened is that after seven years demanded 'Zorro' very much. They sold DVD's and videos, more than they expected. For me it was important more than to do one right after the first one, immediately after which is sometimes kind of cheesy because is what you're doing basically is a movie with a less budget, and trying to use the heat of the first one in an attempt to make more money. But that's not the style of Steven Spielberg or the people who were involved in the movie. They wanted to do a second movie with at least the same perimeters of quality that we used when we did the first one. So it was important to find the right script and the right people, and the right people is basically the people who made the first one. Not only is it about the people are in front of the camera, but also everybody behind the camera- the same cinematographer, the same art director, the same costume designer. So it was kind of a family thing. With the script, on one hand we have a form on how the script is made. I think that we were very keen to do something that remembered the way that these types of movies, western movies were done in the '40's and in the 50's and not using so much computer animation and technology and stuff like that. We do have some of that with the train obviously, but the technologies we use are almost like transparency that we're made in the 50's and 60's, not with such a perfection thing in the way that they do things now. We wanted that kind of flavor, which I think ads value to the movie in a world surrounded by new technologies and stuff like that. And in the other hand it's something that is very contemporary which is just putting Zorro in a position that he's not supposed to be. He's a man who's having problems with his family. He's got a quite dysfunctional family at the point where we start the movie. He doesn't have communication with his son, neither with his wife. He just blames a little bit too much. He probably blames more himself than the people, and then what happens there is that once we got into that type of crisis, that specifically allows me to go to the side of Zorro that I like, which is the common side. I can make the character, in different pieces I can make him jealous and make him drunk and just have him in those positions that Zorro shouldn't be and then just take all these pieces and put them together to be what everybody is expecting.

Is this film sort of toned down from the first one in order to make it PG? What do you think of that?

Antonio Banderas: I really don't understand about those qualifications for movies. We were very specific about the fact that Zorro shouldn’t kill directly anybody. There are obviously two deaths in the movie, the two bad guys. Almost accidentally the first one, with the character McGivens and then the second one, yes, he set the guy up so he's going to crush at the end of the trail, but he's not directly killing him with his own hands or with the sword. And then we were very keen not to show any kind of blood in the movie or Zorro stabbing anybody, which in the first (movie) happens. In the first one I can remember killing the Captain Love at the end of the movie with the sword, but this time with Steven and Martin Campbell and everyone on the movie, they were very careful with that type of thing.

Do you think that loses a little bit of what “Zorro” is though?

Antonio Banderas: I don't think so. We have I think also that this movie…I mean it’s going to be seen by kids too. And I think it's important the fact that its not so bloody in a way.

You are Zorro basically. But was there ever an issue like with Pierce Brosnan and James Bond where you’re asking for too much money and getting too old, that there was a possibility of the part going to someone else?

Antonio Banderas: It might happen now [Laughs]. It may happen that this was the last time that I put the mask on. But I don’t know, its going to depend on the audience again as I said to you in the beginning.

But there was never any question of you not doing this one?

Antonio Banderas: It may have happened at the studio, but I don't know. I don't know if there was a debate among them, the studio people, about the possibility of using another actor to play the character or not. What I know is that from like two or three years ago the contact that I have had with Walter Parkes (Producer) and the people who were involved in the movie, the Columbia people, they said to me that we are sending me scripts for your approval and that we were going to do go on this date and then it was postponed. So I suppose that they were counting on me from the beginning when they just considered the project, the second movie in their heads. But I don't know more than that.

And you’re doing another character sequel with Puss ‘n Boots for “Shrek III” right?

Antonio Banderas: We just started doing that, recording that.

Do you have a lot of fun doing that?

Antonio Banderas: Yes, because it's totally different than what I thought it was going to be. For an actor like me that I arrived to this country sixteen years ago without speaking the language, and the fact that they called me just to use my voice has kind of made me proud somehow. But it's a method that was very unusual from what I thought animation movies would be. Basically what we do is just improvise. The voice goes first and we improvise what we have as an excuse, it's called a script, but it's an excuse to start going somewhere. They go away after we do the first session and then they come back of months later and they show you the first stages of animation and then they ask you what you think about where the character should go which is very unusual for an animation movie. Then we just debate about that, and we jump into ideas that come out of the conversation. So it's a totally different way, and I know it’s a totally different way because my wife did a little bird in 'Stuart Little II' and it was totally different from this. She said to me that it was almost like working in publicity. You had to repeat the line eighty times until they said to you, 'We have it.' She said it was kind of different the way that 'Shrek' is done and probably one of the reasons for its success.

Does you daughter like your character of Puss ‘N Boots?

Antonio Banderas: You bet, man.

Is your daughter more impressed with Zorro or with Puss ‘N Boots?

Antonio Banderas: Definitely with Puss 'N Boots, but the thing is that when we're watching 'Zorro,' and I didn't allow her to watch that until very little time ago, and when she saw it she was basically elbowing me the whole entire movie going, 'Is that you, papi?' Every time that she sees a stunt she asks me that and of course my answer is yes [Laughs] even if it's not true.

There was talk of a “Puss ‘n Boots” movie. Where’s that at?

Antonio Banderas: So far we're going to do it. It seems like it's going to happen. I suppose that also it’s going to be…counting in how 'Shrek III' is going to make and if the character continues being appealing to the audiences. But yeah, I've had this conversation with Jeffrey Katzenberg. He's going for it. They're writing a script and they're talking with directors already, and it'll be great to see what happens.

So what have you learned in the last 16 years in your film career?

Antonio Banderas: What I have learned is just so vast. There are so many things that have happened in my life – my life, my professional life, my personal life. From directing my first movie to going to Broadway for 'Rosalita.' I guess that I became a kind of very eclectic character actor. I've done everything in this profession. I've done horror movies like 'Interview With a Vampire.' Musicals like 'Evita.' I went to Broadway and directed a movie. Many things. It's true though that sometimes thinking about it all gives you a type of vertigo that it's been sixteen years since I stepped into this country and started doing movies here. It's been very interesting. Interesting is not a good word nowadays, but it has been interesting [Laughs].

And it’s not over yet, right?

Antonio Banderas: No. I don't think that it's over. No. I keep going and working. No. No. I feel better than ever actually.

Then why go back to Spain to direct a movie?

Antonio Banderas: Because I need it. Because I've been out of the Spanish cinematography for a while and it's almost like a duty for me to do this. I can't feel very good about my persona just working in America all the time, and not giving anything to the Spanish cinematography. So I just decided to put a production company together and I'm just right now starting to shoot a movie on the 21st of November. It doesn't have anything to do with the movies that I've done here. It's harder, darker, more sexual than movies that I have done here.

Are you going to star in it as well as direct it?

Antonio Banderas: No. I don't feel prepared to direct myself.

Spanish actors?

Antonio Banderas: Spanish actors. Spanish production. Everything will be Spanish.

Looking back, what do you think the impact of ‘Imagining Argentina’ was?

Antonio Banderas: 'Imagining Argentina' was a project that failed totally to the expectations that we had. I suppose that the fact that we put together a social political movie based on reality, and a thriller. It wasn't very appealing for critics and for audiences. I have to recognize that but if someone said to me would you do it again? I would say yes even with the same mistakes. I went there for a specific cause and I would do it again. That's the way things are. Sometimes it might happen that a movie hits the people the in the way that you want it to and sometimes not, but that's the story of this profession. There is the greatness and the misery of being an actor, or just try to tell stories. That's just the way it is.

Speaking of Spanish films, any plans on reuniting with director Pedro Almodóvar?

Antonio Banderas: Yes. Three years ago he approached me at Cannes Film Festival, he said well Antonio we have been 15 years now without working together and its time to go back. So he proposed to me the possibility of doing a movie based on a French book called “Tarantula”, very strong story, very Almodóvar story and I said absolutely yes. The last times that I’ve been talking with him, he got problems putting the script together, its complex and I suppose that if someday the story is ready to be done, he’s going to come for me and I’ll be here, I will clean my schedule to work with him again. But it doesn’t happen then I will continue to do my own stuff.

Is “Take the Lead” a musical comedy or a musical drama?

Antonio Banderas: It's not musical. It's a story based on a real character called Pierre Dulaine. He is still alive. He's was the world champion of ballroom dancing and when he retired he put together a school in Bronx, New York. Right in front of the public school when it had all the problems with drugs and all the problems that public schools have in our days in America. So he decided just to go there and talk to the principal and propose to the principal the possibility of involving the kids in dancing and it was pretty successful. They now have a thousand kids on the East Coast dancing in the program. They've had some help from the government and different institutions, and it's proved to be something for interesting for kids to do. Obviously in the beginning the reaction was totally against him. 'What the heck are you talking about?' This was in the projects and people weren't interested in dance or anything like that, but he proves them wrong, all the people who wanted these guys to step back from this.

Do you get to dance a lot?

Antonio Banderas: Not a lot. I'm supposed to be retired [Laughs]. But I dance a tango in the movie just to show off in front of the kids so that they really know what I'm talking about and I'm doing a bit of a waltz, but the kids do and they dance great actually.

It sounds like you’ve got a full plate with work. What happens with you away from work? Anything fun and exciting – travel plans, holiday plans?

Antonio Banderas: Holiday is impossible right now. Impossible. I'm not in a holiday mood. Right now I'm in a working mood and right after I finish that movie I'm going to come here and do a movie in America. I don't know what I'm going to pick, but I have several projects on the table, and then I plan to go back to Broadway.

Another revival or a new musical?

Antonio Banderas: It's a new musical, but it's something that you know. It's based on a movie that we all know. I don't have all the cards in my hands, and I don't want to jump and tell you what it is just in case of the possibility of it not happening with the rights and stuff like that and a variety of situations, but the plan is to make it with the same director as 'Nine.' 'Don Juan DeMarco' the musical.

The Johnny Depp movie?

Antonio Banderas: The Johnny Depp movie. Yeah. We're trying to use the Michael Kamen music, but now he's dead unfortunately and Bryan Adams wrote some things also. We had a beautiful experience doing 'Nine.' I know the risks of going to Broadway, but this profession is a risk in anyway.

Next year?

Antonio Banderas: I don't know. I have to make my movie. I'm going to finish shooting at the beginning of March. That'll probably go to some festivals, the movie and I'll have to go to those. I don't know what's going to happen with the movie.

There were rumors that “Nine” was going to be made into a movie?

Antonio Banderas: That is a possibility. Yes.

You would do it?

Antonio Banderas: I would.

You’ve talked about your age a couple of times already. How is it in America with all the actors being 20? As the sexiest man alive at one time where does being 45 fit into all of that?

Antonio Banderas: I would be very worried if I was a woman. I don't know if that answers the question.

Your wife is that age. Are you worried for her?

Antonio Banderas: She hasn't worked at the studios in a long time. As many actresses as there are, and I mean amazing actresses, they're not working. I don't know if I should say names, but like Jessica Lange and Michelle Pfeiffer – people that are amazing actresses and the studios are not calling them anymore. It's like a fresh, fresh thing that goes on here especially with woman. With the men it's a totally different thing. It's funny, right after the first 'Zorro,' Catherine Zeta Jones did a movie with Sean Connery and they were a couple in the movie and it was accepted.

What, the 50-year age difference?

Antonio Banderas: But if you do that in the opposite direction – there's that restriction with age. It just depends. But for a woman it's kind of cruel actually, because it doesn't happen like that all over the world.

And in Spain it’s different?

Antonio Banderas: It is. It is.

What about being upstaged in this movie by your horse?

Antonio Banderas: [Laughs] No problem. Actually, that horse is nine horses, and I trained with all of them because each one them has a different skill. You have the horses that jump. You have horses that run very fast. You have horses that come around a corner good. One that rears. Whatever. So you have to start a relationship with all of them especially because in the movie’s time is very important because time means money and they don't want to lose money. And when the horses start getting a little bit funny everyone gets very nervous. So I try to be as acquainted with the horses as I could, as I did with the sword and fighting too.

Who do you play in “Bordertown” with Jennifer Lopez?

Antonio Banderas: I play a Mexican journalist.

And she’s an American journalist?

Antonio Banderas: She's also a Spanish journalist, but she doesn't want to play Spanish, which is something that I've seen sometimes in this country. She wants to be an American and she goes blonde and all of this stuff, and at the end of the movie she has to recognize her origins. It's a movie made with very little money a little bit in the same way that we did 'Imagining Argentina.' 'Here we go again.' We might have a movie that is a failure, but we did it all for a cause that we thought was important. It's been almost three and a half years of my life in Mexico. I've shot seven movies there. I'm conscious of their social and political situations that they have sometimes and it was important for me to not only do movies like this which I'm very proud of, it's pure entertainment, but I want to do some movies that sometimes might make people reflect about problems that are probably too close to us and too far away from our minds at times.

What happens with Puss ‘n Boots in “Shrek III”?

Antonio Banderas: We're recording as I said before. We're doing that right now, and as I told you before we do it in pieces and it might take a year, a year and a half to just put together the whole entire thing, but we're in that process right now.

What do you like more, being Zorro or El Mariachi?

Antonio Banderas: Oh, they're different. I can't make a choice because El Mariachi is a more tormented character. He's in pain all the time. Zorro is a more joyful character, more positive.

THE LEGEND OF ZORRO Hits Theatres Oct 28th