An 'eclectic' career for Banderas

He's an actor, director, producer, writer and even a photographer, yet Antonio Banderas defines his career with a single word.

"I like the word 'eclecticism' a lot to define my career as an actor. I like to visit many genres, many styles and diverse characters. I like to jump from a comedy to, suddenly, more serious things," the Spaniard said during a recent telephone interview. The interview was in Spanish for Modesto's Vida en el Valle newspaper and translated for Scene.

"Last year almost became a metaphor of what my career is," Banderas continued. "Especially because both movies — 'The Skin I Live In' vs. 'Puss in Boots' (nominated Tuesday for an Academy Award for best animated feature) — had nothing to do with one another, they are exactly the opposite, and as an actor, that is what interests me a lot."

With a career spanning more than three decades, Banderas has brought to life an extensive variety of characters. Yet there are two that are dear to his heart. "I remember Ricky, a character from a (Pedro) Almodóvar movie called 'Átame' (1990), which is a character that I love. The other, in mainstream movies, was Zorro (1998). It is a character that I'm very fond of — a very popular, fun and happy character in adventure films that brought me many satisfactions. Those two were key roles in my career," said the 51-year-old.

Nowadays, Banderas is busy promoting his role of Rodrigo in the film 'Haywire,' now in theaters and directed by Steven Soderbergh.

"The main thing that motivated me (to take the part) was Steven Soderbergh, who I've admired for many years because of his ability to do things differently and do them very well. And the cast is exceptional. The fact that the main action character is a woman and the script not only focused on action, but it was brilliantly linked to a certain formal elegance. One that reminds us of films that we probably saw in the '70s, action films with guts."

Despite enjoying fame and the respect from his colleagues in Hollywood, Banderas admits that even though much has been achieved as a Latino community, there is still a lot more to be done.

"I believe it's been a labor of many people. It doesn't only have to do with the entertainment world or those Hispanic celebrities that are well-known or famous. I believe it has to do with a community in this country that has fought hard so that their children can have an education that they probably didn't have," he said. "I am talking about generations that came from countries in conflict, countries with hard economic situations, and they had to leave the Américas and come to the United States. Those generations worked hard, those children went on to the universities and today have powerful positions, and that, of course, had to reflect in the entertainment world and Hollywood.

"I don't consider that Hispanics are a trend, because they have established themselves and are respected. The thing is that there are still a lot of battles to win, many areas to conquer and we need to keep reaffirming that every day with our work."

When asked what is left for him to do professionally, Banderas laughed. "Nothing really, just continue to explore the many areas I mentioned earlier. Try to be more profound with my characters, produce more, my interest for directing continues to grow. I believe that a lot of my truth, those things I need to tell, lie behind directing.

"Sometimes as an actor, you have the possibility to identify with the character you are playing and sometimes you don't. The word 'actor' can also be defined as interpreter; therefore, you are interpreting someone else's ideas. As a director, you have the possibility to create your own universe and share how you see it with the world. You can create the rhythm, space, general relationship between two characters, and that is a world that interests me more and more," he said.

"I guess it might be because of my age," he added.