Banderas Is ‘Crazy’ About His New Gig

Since his meteoric rise as one of Hollywood’s sexiest leading men, Antonio Banderas has been itching to work on non-studio films.

Not that he’s complaining about commanding multimillion-dollar salaries and being the only Latino actor cast as the lead in major studio productions, among them “The Mask of Zorro” and “Evita.” But having been nurtured as an actor in Europe, Banderas wanted to return to the subtler, slower-paced films that star-making studios normally don’t make.

“I had been crying to my agent that I wanted a place where I could make more personal films,” he said, relaxing in his home in Los Angeles. “Even though I am very grateful to work in the big studios, I wanted a place where I could work on films from the heart.”

He got his wish with his directorial debut, “Crazy in Alabama,” a dark comedy starring his wife, Melanie Griffith, as Lucille, a wacky Southern gal who kills her abusive husband so she may achieve her dream of starring in a Hollywood show.

The film, which opened Friday in Los Angeles, has added Banderas to the list of star actors turned directors, including Jodie Foster, Tim Robbins and Barbra Streisand. Though the film fared poorly in its debut weekend--it took in only $1 million at the box office--Banderas says he is glad to have worked on the film.

The film, based on Mark Childress’ novel of the same name, is told through the eyes of Lucille’s 12-year-old nephew, Peejoe, played by Lucas Black (“Sling Blade”). The film weaves Lucille’s zany adventures from a backwater town in 1960s Alabama to glamorous Hollywood alongside Peejoe’s impression of the civil rights struggle unfolding before his eyes.

When Griffith, who acquired the rights to the story in 1996, showed Banderas the screenplay, the couple immediately decided to take it on as one of their first projects at their company, Green Moon Productions.

The couple made sure they had the same vision for the story long before shooting began. Initially, Banderas worried that directing his wife would affect their relationship, but they sailed through the production without any major conflicts, he said. It got to the point where he would make eye contact with Griffith, and she would instinctively know what he wanted for the scene, he said.

“A new world opened up for me,” he said, as he munched on prosciutto and figs in the couple’s large living room. “There were times as an actor when I could not bring out certain emotions, and I recognized that was happening with some of the actors. So, directing gave me a chance to play with feelings and push some buttons that helped the actors perform.”

Banderas, who was born in Malaga, Spain, said he was attracted to many aspects of the story. The naive sweetness of the boy’s narration especially appealed to Banderas, who speaks of the movie in a rapid-fire Spanish with a passion that reflects his Andalusian roots.

“That child represents the kind of child that I always wanted to be but never was,” said the 39-year-old actor-director. “I never had the courage to be like that, and that fascinated me about the character. He has the stuff of an epic hero--albeit in a fairy tale type story.”

“Crazy’s” characters have a strangely comfortable, surreal relationship with death. Lucille carries on conversations with her deceased husband’s head, which she brings along in a hatbox. Peejoe’s uncle, Dove Bullis--played by David Morse--the town’s mortician, lives in a spooky old house where open coffins sometimes serve as beds.

The closeness to death reminded Banderas of Spanish culture’s obsession with death--often a topic in literature, theater and film as an inevitable, acceptable fact of life.

Banderas said he tried to keep the comic aspects of the story in balance with the seriousness of the civil rights movement and the abuse Lucille suffered at the hands of her husband. The rhythm of the film was also a delicate dance; Banderas had to balance Lucille’s adventures with Peejoe’s observations of the struggle in Alabama. Banderas needed to patch together a film that jumps from one story to another with relative grace--a steep challenge for a first-time director.

“The film has a soul of a woman,” Banderas said. “It is told through the eyes of a child, but it has the curves of a woman. The film gives a little, then takes back a little. It flirts with the audience.”

Childress, who also wrote the screenplay, said he agreed to work with Griffith and Banderas because they insisted on keeping specific elements of the story that others in Hollywood suggested be erased.

“He was the first person that we talked to who didn’t say, ‘Let’s get rid of the civil rights story and just tell the story of Lucille,’ ” said Childress, who was born in Alabama. “He understood that the comedy needed the tragedy, and that would make it different from other Hollywood movies.”

Making the movie served as a history lesson to Banderas, who had studied American history and pop culture as a youth in Spain. He watched the award-winning PBS series “Eyes on the Prize” for a better understanding of the civil rights movement in the South.

He came to see the deeply racist and ignorant sheriff’s deputies as almost buffoonish characters whose hatred was equaled only by their stupidity. He knew that he would have to cast an actor who could easily grasp the ridiculous nature of these men with a badge--rock star Meat Loaf Aday, who plays the small-minded town sheriff.

“They were absolutely cartoonish, absurd people,” Banderas said. “They are pathetic, and Meat Loaf understood that very well.”

Banderas hopes that the film will open new directorial avenues for him. Already, he is planning his next directing effort, again starring Griffith, called “Malaga Burning,” based on the book by Gamel Woolsey. The story, set in 1930s Spain when the country was engulfed by civil war, would bring Banderas back to his native land.

He would like to work as an actor in Spain, where he has worked with nearly all the great Spanish directors--Pedro Almodovar, Carlos Saura and Jose Luis Garci among them--but only if the right project comes along.

His next film as an actor is “Play It to the Bone,” directed by Ron Shelton and co-starring Woody Harrelson, in which he and Harrelson play journeyman boxers hoping for a shot at the big time. He is also set to appear in front of the camera--although shielded by a mask--in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s new production of “The Phantom of the Opera,” to be directed by Oscar-nominated Shekhar Kapur (“Elizabeth”). Banderas had starred in the film version of Lloyd Webber’s “Evita.”

But the directing bug continues to bite.

“I discovered that I have a real knack for the visual--something I never knew before,” he said. “I think I am going to keep developing this, if possible, because it could lead to something interesting in the future.”