Born on Aug. 10, 1960 in Malaga, Spain, Antonio Banderas set out to be a professional soccer player but when a foot injury sidetracked his plans, Banderas turned his attention to the stage and completed his studies at Malaga's School of Dramatic Art. His unforgettable role in "Desperado" led to other productions like "Evita," "Femme Fatale" and "The Mask of Zorro."
Daily Sabah conducted an interview with the world-famous actor in Los Angeles to discuss his new TV series depicting Pablo Picasso's life produced by National Geographic.
DAILY SABAH: A lot of actors have played Picasso but for you being Spanish is this kind of a rite of passage. Is it something that you've always thought about?
ANTONIO BANDERAS: No. Many people say this is a character that I have been always searching to play, but it is exactly the opposite. I have been escaping. I have been just running from playing Picasso for many years. It has been offered to me in different periods of my life. When I was young, in my 20s, there was the first offer that I rejected and then my 30s and 40s. After all I received a call from Ron Howard and Ken Biller in London and they put on the table the possibility of doing a TV show, 10 episodes. Recently I finished watching "Einstein" the first season of "Genius," a couple of weeks before and I loved it.
I felt it was quality television and so it was very difficult at that time to reject it. Also, the presence of National Geographic behind gave us the guarantee and the credibility that we needed for all the data and the information. There was no excuse for me to just jump into the skin of Don Pablo Ruiz Picasso.
D.S.: I strongly believe that everybody has a genius inside them. What is your genius other than being a fabulous actor, if any?
BANDERAS: Difficult question. I don't think everybody has a genius. I think if you can understand life as an art, you can be curious, imaginative in any activity that you just do in your life. You can actually be very creative but genius is some other thing. Genius in my mind is somebody who actually breaks the rules of what was known, to give us something new that was slightly better than what we had, and can affect a very large number of people. I experienced that with Picasso and genius has also produced some collateral damages. Geniuses are not perfect people. It's just human beings like us who make a lot of mistakes too ... And I don't know what my genius would be. Maybe surviving.
D.S: In real life do you have any insecurities or have you ever been afraid of stepping into a role?
BANDERAS: Yes, I do. I think I expressed a little bit of that with Picasso. I had this kind of reticence to play him because he was big but at the same time because he was born in my hometown which means a lot to me and I had a certain fear. I knew that I was going to be judged very specially because there is a certain love that is very specific for one person who is a son of Malaga like I am. So, I was afraid of failing. I was afraid of not hitting the right notes in somebody that actually I idolized. He is a hero that I have known since the time that I was 5 years old. My mother would hold my hand and take me to school, we used to cross in front of the corner of La Plaza de la Merced in Malaga where he was born and every day I was hearing Picasso was born here. Picasso was the only hero that we had in Malaga as the national hero in a time in which Spain had very little heroes. Picasso was from Malaga and that was always very interesting to me. "Oh, there is a guy from Malaga who made it outside. He made it big. He made a big splash."
D.S: Do you own any Picasso paintings?
I used to own two, but in my divorce I lost one. But I still have one.
D.S: What did you learn from Picasso?
BANDERAS: I learned that to be a real artist is very painful. It is very painful because you have to be very honest and that same honesty makes you a great artist. This is the same thing that becomes a misery to you. The same honesty that he had to take boos. He was booed many times in his life as a painter because he didn't want to just follow what the people wanted to see for him. He is broke, that kind of honesty is the same honesty that creates a lot of problems for him. It's the honesty of saying I don't love you anymore. So, if you go in there, what you don't lie to anybody when the relationship between your brain and what you think is exactly what you do, it creates a lot of problems in a world in which we don't behave like that. We just don't behave like that.
D.S: As an actor you had the chance to travel quite extensively but where does Antonio Banderas like to go? How do you like to explore a place and what would you recommend?
I would like to go to a place where there is a sofa and a television. I am very tired now. I would like to go home because I live in hotel rooms all the time. I would like to go home and write which I am doing lately a lot, read, watch some movies, take long walks, take my bike and go outside with my girlfriend and see movies, theater plays, go to London to see plays, which is now my passion.
D.S: You started playing soccer as a child. You were very unique and very talented but you end up being a successful actor. Do you believe in destiny? How do you relate to that in your life?
I don't know about destiny but I believe that you can build your own destiny sometimes unconsciously. I do believe in that. I do believe in what they call the law of attraction. I believe you want something very much and you are honest with yourself, at the end you will get it. I do believe in those things.
D.S: Can you put that in context of your long career? Was it the most difficult, the one you had to do the most research?
It fit in a moment of tranquility. After I had my heart attack, some magic things start happening. I lost the anxiousness for certain things and searching for a very particular thing that I have to obtain or get but the pleasure of acting in itself, in a quiet way. It's almost like my life gave me the possibility of taking a step back and look at the things with a little bit more perspective and two beautiful things happened. A movie called "Life Itself" that is going to come out in September with Dan Fogelman, and "Picasso."
"Picasso" got to me at the right time because two years ago, life gave me a touch to see death in front of my very eyes and I understand about my vulnerability and understand about the relativeness of everything.
There's nothing more certain or it's the only one certainty that we have is death. That is perfect. There is nothing more perfect than that but everything else is relative. It's a second chance and I think I am taking it.
D.S: Your daughter Stella is a grown-up lady now. What is she up to? Where is she?
She is at "Coachella" [laughter] like half of Los Angeles. I was just thinking Los Angeles is not so crowded these days. How many million people are there. She is a great girl and a young woman, 21 years old, going to the University of Southern California. She is doing narrative studies. That's what it's called and she may end up in front of a camera. I don't know. She may end up behind a camera. More possible I think. She may write. I don't know but she's a very conscious woman with the life that she's living and the world that surrounds her. She is very conscious about what is happening all around the universe and that is very important for me. There are a lot of injustices going on in the world, a lot of confusion and violence. She's conscious of that and I want her to be because that's her time and she and all the young people have to be conscious of that. Otherwise this is not going to change ever, so I am very proud of my daughter. I think personally that also her mother did a great job not only with her. Also with Dakota [Johnson] and with the other kids and so I salute her for that.
