Antonio Banderas has just turned 51 and has quite a few grey hairs to show for it, but once you see the old Desperado leaping and growling in a hotel hallway, you know he’s showing no signs of slowing down.
“I look back now and see a lot of work, people, faces and souls,” says Banderas, sitting down for an interview. “And I feel like I’m in the middle of the game. The match is not over and I may score some goals.”
Banderas is at TIFF waving the flag for the new Pedro Almodóvar film he stars in, The Skin I Live In, a diabolical thriller about a plastic surgeon and the mysterious girl he keeps locked in his house.
The actor’s career spans three decades, many continents, and movies ranging from Almodovar’s Matador to Puss In Boots. He fancies himself as the kind of actor that works among a travelling troupe, performing in a light comedy in the afternoon and Shakespeare in the evening.
“I think movies serve many different purposes,” he says. “If they are all legitimate and made with dignity, they are all open for business.”
Banderas is certainly keen on working in movies that “explore the complexities of the human soul.” He credits directors like Almodóvar, Terrence Malick and Lars von Trier for charting such territory. However, he doesn’t want to forget that other contingent among his audiences.
“I cannot ask a guy who has been working on the road under the sun for the whole entire week to see an art film,” he explains. “Maybe his brain is going to explode. He may just watch Spider-Man with a big bucket of popcorn and that is perfectly legitimate.”
If it sounds like the star is consoling himself for making Spy Kids 3D, he’s certainly doing a terrific job. In fact, Banderas refers to his favourite scene on film (ever!) to get the point across: the finale in Fellini’s 8½, where all the characters from Guido’s life hold hands in a circle.
“I like this idea of seeing myself holding hands with Zorro, the cat (from Puss In Boots), the vampire from Interview With The Vampire, Che Guevera from Evita. All of them, holding hands and going around. I love that. I’m an actor.”
The Skin I Live In screens Saturday (September 17), 9:30 am, at the TIFF Bell Lightbox 2.
