Antonio Banderas calls Zorro his favorite character

If he could play just one of his characters for the rest of his life, Spanish actor Antonio Banderas would choose Zorro, though he admits that the cape and hat generated a lot of heat and it would be almost unbearable to be always wearing them.

“I have a special liking for Zorro,” Banderas said during a questionandanswer session after taking part in the 21st Century Mexico Forum, organized by the Telmex Foundation headed by multibillionaire Carlos Slim.

Wearing a suit but no tie, with a beard and in good spirits, Banderas during his 45minute talk reviewed his professional life, from the day on Aug. 3, 1980, when he took a train to Madrid with the dream of being an actor.

Speaking about the time when he filmed “Zorro,” Banderas told of his meeting with the 1982 Nobel literature laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez, deceased this year, who noted the good features of the avenger character and who accompanied him at times during the 1998 shoot of “Mask of Zorro.”

Banderas also starred in the 2005 swashbuckler film “The Legend of Zorro,” the sequel to “Mask of Zorro.”

During his speech in Spanish, he also spoke of the courage of Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar, who one day advised him to go in for movies because of his romantic good looks, and with whom he later worked on several films, including “La Ley del Deseo.” EFE