Antonio Banderas on The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (Exclusive Interview)

One of the main attractions of the new movie THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE OUT OF WATER (in theaters Friday, February 6) is undoubtedly Antonio Banderas. The Spanish actor ratifies his versatility playing the colorful Pirate Burger-Beard. I had the honor of speaking by telephone to one of the most important Hispanic artists of our time. Enjoy this exclusive interview, where Banderas talks about his experience making this family friendly film, and much, much more.

DH Movie News: Antonio, first of all I have to thank you. In my childhood and adolescence I had long hair, and you know how kids are cruel. Suddenly your movie Desperado came out and you turned long hair into the standard of absolute masculinity. So on behalf of a whole generation of kids who had long hair, I thank you very much.

Antonio Banderas: (laughs) I’m so glad that you tell me this. Here the hair has also become an important event in the pirate, but in this case, as it was not my own hair, it was more difficult. Above all it was the beard that I wore with great sacrifice. Because they glued it to my face every day, by the end of the shoot, I was almost left without face. But it was fun too.

DH: The actors use it as something to their advantage to have a ‘prop’ to get into character, but you could hide a ham in this beard that airport customs would not be able to find it.

AB: An entire soccer team! It was like a bear had attacked me in the morning and he had stayed there for twelve hours. The first day was fun but after a week I would get up in the morning and say, “My God, an hour and a half of makeup session waiting for me with the ‘glue’. Just the smell of the glue that they applied to my face, when I smell it now, my heart starts beating fast. I tell you truly, it was strong. I have done very tough physical work in movies but this beats El ZORRO or DESPERADO, all these films, due to bodily sacrifice. But hey, there it is.

DH: Were you familiar with this cartoon or did they have to take you by the hand and explain how this world and this universe works?

AB: Well, I was not too familiar with SpongeBob, but it is not very difficult because it is practically everywhere. All I had to do was to review the work being done on television almost from the beginning of this century, and understand this universe. In either case, the rest was explained in the script, while I rely a lot on the director’s requests, to try and understand why they call me for this character. I think that somehow it also has to do with the tradition of children’s films I have done in the past. From Robert Rodriguez’s SPY KIDS, to SHREK and then PUSS IN BOOTS in the Shrek saga and its own independent movie; and a certain attachment to the child’s world and the world of infinite possibilities which is a huge fantasy, that as an actor also allows you to enter territories and universes that normal movies don’t.

DH: Do you think children’s films also carry some responsibility, because it could potentially be the first film that a kid sees at the movies?

AB: Yes, indeed. Movies for children have two distinct aspects: One is entertainment, and you have to fulfill that part. If you do not entertain the kid as a spectator, he or she will be extremely harsh and very honest. So if he does not like the movie, he starts pulling his father’s sleeve and dragging him out of the theater. And, on the other hand, the movie has to be educational. You have to be very careful with the values you are trying to convey. They have to be very universal values and approved by all. I think that is something the creators of SpongeBob understand it very well, i.e. the values of friendship, and teamwork, and camaraderie that are within the story itself. One also has to have some humor; you should know how to mitigate the bad things that happen because the child does not want a punishment to be too strong. If you look at it, my character is a three-in-one character somehow: On the one hand it is a narrator, he tells the tale. On the other, he is larger than life, a guy who is a classic pirate. And then, he is also a chef. All these things are very well conceived in the story and structure, say narrative of the film.

DH: Speaking of childhood…did you pretend to be a pirate or to be Zorro for example, or were you only engaged in soccer?

AB: I played all those things: Indians, cowboys, pirates, Peter Pan was my favorite movie. I wanted to be Peter Pan and had a Tinkerbell stuffed in a glass, to play with it whenever I wanted (laughs). Yes of course, it was not only soccer; luckily and thankfully it was not just soccer.

DH: In your recent films there’s is a mixture of extroverted characters -in this one as much as in THE EXPENDABLES 3- and more repressed characters, like in AUTOMATA AND THE SKIN I LIVE IN. Is this pure coincidence?

AB: Well, it’s a coincidence that they have come to me at the same time and come out almost together. But it also corresponds to my way of working. Long ago I abandoned the idea others have about a career in this business. “You cannot do that because it will harm your career” and that kind of stuff the agents tell you. “You cannot do comedy because you have an audience more prone to drama; or you audience likes action, and they will not understand”. Those things don’t matter to me. I am interested in being a versatile actor and be able to do different things. What gives me the most pleasure is to walk about the streets of New York and see that a multi-cinema is showing PUSS IN BOOTS in one of the theaters and the adjoining one is showing THE SKIN I LIVE IN. Because that’s me: I love to visit different universes and play different characters.

DH: You were talking about the agents, career and all that. Have you encountered many “pirates” in Hollywood?

AB: In Hollywood not, in life. Pirates, ghosts, all that kind of strange characters indeed. But I’ve also been lucky enough to run into a lot of good people. People who taught me many things, who cared for me and supported me. And even from pirates you can draw lessons. So I cannot complain. In fact, quite the opposite, I am grateful to God and Life for everything that I’ve been given.

DH: As a fan of the superhero movies, I would love to see you in one of these new films of superheroes, in one of Marvel’s for example. Is there any chance?

AB: What happens is that these people at Marvel don’t write for Hispanics, man (laughs). Beyond Zorro, I don’t know. Do we invent one? We need kind of a Spanish James Bond; otherwise, I don’t think so. I still find myself with the physical strength to get my hands on a character this style. I would love to. Perhaps in the not too distant future. Too distant and it might not happen because the years go by and at one point my bones will be creaking every time I pull one of these stunts, cables and all those sorts of stories involved in action movies.

DH: No matter what type of genre or character you play, we’ll be following you, because all Hispanics are proud of you.

AB: Look, I’m proud of being Hispanic, and I learned a lot of what this community has given me in the US a lot! Someday, if we have the chance, in a quiet time, no phones and no running in the halls of a building in New York, we shall see each other face to face and we can talk about this. I owe a lot to Hispanics.

THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE OUT OF WATER opens in theaters this Friday, Feb. 6.