Spanish actor Antonio Banderas returns to his roots with his latest directorial offering, which in addition to being filmed in his Malaga hometown, was also given its world premiere in the Spanish coastal resort. "This film isn’t just my second film as director; it’s going back to Malaga, going back to the Seventies; and to what I was like then. That’s what I am trying to do," he explained.
And the 46-year-old Latino heart-throb was keen to support local actors in the semi-autobiographical El Camino de los Ingleses, which tells the tale of a group of 18-year-olds coming of age in the 1970s.
"It made me go back to that fearful place, full of vertigo and uncertainty and emptiness which is what I felt at that age. Eighteen was not an age of spring and marvellous youth for me," he said. "It was an exercise in honesty."
For the hugely successful actor, the film marks a move away from the recent Hollywood box office hits such as The Mask Of Zorro and Spy Kids into more familiar territory. He found fame as the star of several films by Spanish director Pedro Almodovar, currently tipped to win an Oscar for Penelope Cruz vehicle Volver.
However Antonio, who made his directing debut in 1999 with Crazy In Alabama which starred wife Melanie Griffiths - has not turned his back on Tinseltown. The Desperado star is to reprise his swashbuckling role as the voice of Puss In Boots in two further Shrek films, and has just finished filming the comedy Homeland Security alongside Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks's son Colin.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
