Antonio Banderas laughs off ’sex symbol’ tag
By ANIWednesday, June 2, 2010
MELBOURNE - Shrek star Antonio Banderas doesn’t consider himself a sex symbol.
“I don’t believe it. Come on!” The Daily Telegraph quoted Banderas as saying during an interview at a Beverly Hills hotel.
“When you get to my age and look in the mirror, how can you think that?
“I don’t believe in those labels. There are a lot more guys more handsome than me. All that stuff is just a game.”
Banderas, who turns 50 this year, came back as Puss-in-Boots for his latest animation flick Shrek Forever After. Puss is getting his own spin-off franchise, with work on the Puss in Boots animated film underway and a release date slated for November next year.
“It is a slightly different style to Shrek,” Banderas reveals about the Puss movie.
He added: “It is like a spaghetti western. It is almost like a Quentin Tarantino movie. It’s fun and kind of emotional.
“In the beginning you see Puss in Boots when he was a - I was going to say a kid, but he’s not a kid right. He’s a kitty.
“So we see him in an orphanage and the events which make him Puss in Boots.”
Banderas takes his role as Puss as serious as any of his other on camera roles, and it was the Spanish actor who decided early on the feline should have a booming voice.
“When I saw Puss the first time it was a still picture,” Banderas recalls the first meetings with DreamWorks animators.
He added: “I asked what was the relation in size of Puss to the other characters. They explained Puss was very little and not as big as Donkey or Shrek. I said ‘OK, I’ll give him a big voice because I can find comedy in that big voice in a little body’.”
Banderas believes the reason behind the success of the family blockbuster is its intelligence.
Giving his 13-year-old daughter Stella as an example, he says, “Stella is very selective in what she watches and reads, but she loved Shrek because it was very intelligent.” (ANI)
