Banderas finds his fairytale ending (From Kidderminster Shuttle)

Banderas finds his fairytale ending

7:00am Saturday 3rd July 2010

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Antonio Banderas reprises his vocal talents for Puss in Boots for Shrek Forever After, the fourth instalment in the Shrek films, released on Friday July 2. The Spanish actor talks about Puss's own spin-off movie, turning 50 and reflects on his career.

After spending five minutes in his company, you can see why Madonna had a two year crush on Antonio Banderas.

He may be on the cusp of turning 50, but the Spanish actor still has the charisma and looks that hooked his Evita co-star a decade ago, who made the revelation in her 1991 documentary film, In Bed With Madonna.

"Yes, she says these things, but she never repeated it to me," he reveals, before adding with a glimmer of wickedness in his eyes: "It could have been dangerous, depending on my mood."

His fitted white shirt, unbuttoned at the top, offers a glimpse of his still-muscular physique, reminiscent of Desperado and The Mask Of Zorro, and you can't help marvelling at his full head of curly black hair.

We're at the luxury Iberostar Grand Hotel Paraiso in Cancun, Mexico, where the Spanish actor has been holidaying with actress wife Melanie Griffith and 11-year-old daughter Stella.

"They're not with me at the moment - they like the spa and the pool," he blurts out, before realising he may have inadvertently disclosed his family's whereabouts to any listening paparazzi.

There are few airs and graces with Banderas, who is a bonafide Tinseltown A-lister after receiving his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2005.

"I love what I do and that's why I do it. At the end of the day, you could be an enemy of your own success," he says in dulcet Spanish tones.

The Malaga-born star, who rose to prominence after appearing in five movies by Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar, has had a celebrated career since he moved Stateside in the early 1990s, winning roles in Desperado, The Mask Of Zorro and Philadelphia.

Following a string of box office flops, his career was revived when he voiced the cute-but-deadly Puss in Boots in the Shrek films - a role he reprises for Shrek Forever After.

"Because I had been playing characters that were, in some ways, bigger than life and heroic, putting it into a tiny body of a pussy cat was fun," he says, his chocolate-brown eyes twinkling.

Banderas - who now lives in Los Angeles - wasn't expecting the part to fall in his lap.

"When I got to the United States - I was 30 at the time - I didn't speak the language at all. The fact they gave me a character for my voice only was quite surprising, but I suppose I have such a recognisable accent that they thought it was perfect," he recalls.

In the fourth and, what is rumoured to be, final instalment of the animated films, Shrek - voiced by Mike Myers - finds himself in a twisted alternate reality of Far Far Away after being duped into signing a magical pact with Rumpelstiltskin (Walt Dohrn).

With Shrek turned back into a scary ogre, Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz) as a warrior and Donkey (Eddie Murphy) as a slave, where does that leave the swashbuckling Puss?

"This last one is very surprising because Puss is very fat," Banderas reveals, with a deep chuckle.

"He just let himself go badly, so he doesn't feel like hunting any more or killing others - he's just lazy, very lazy."

He continues: "When they came up with this story of an alternative reality and all the characters not really knowing each other, it was almost like it started from the beginning, almost like a new movie. I thought it was just a fantastic concept, and the re-imagination of Puss as this spoiled, pampered pet is inspired."

While fans may soon be bidding farewell to Shrek, Puss will be back with his own spin-off film, expected for release next year.

"I already did the first recordings and it's going to be called Puss In Boots: The Story Of An Ogre Killer," Banderas confirms.

"It starts when he was very little. He was in an orphanage when he first discovered the effect he has on people with his big eyes and that's when he starts being very intelligent," he adds.

After Shrek, Banderas's next film You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger, which premiered at Cannes in May, sees him working with the bespectacled legend that is Woody Allen.

"It was great but weird at the same time," he admits.

"When I was 25 years old, I worked in Madrid wearing a t-shirt printed with his face. So, being on the set and seeing the same guy on my t-shirt - he is literally the same guy because he wears the same glasses and the same hat - it was quite impressive."

But Banderas didn't get starstruck meeting his icon when they filmed in London.

"I love working with him. Somebody said he was difficult but that wasn't the case. I talked to him a lot. All you have to do is just talk about jazz, and he will go on and on," he adds, with a smile.

He admits he was taken aback by the three-time Oscar-winner's working ways, who keeps plotlines a closely guarded secret, even from his own cast.

"My wife worked with Woody in Celebrity and it surprised me that she only received her lines and nothing else from the script, and that is what he did with me," he says.

"The lines before mine would be scribbled out. I told him this was a very weird experience. This is the first movie I've worked on like this and not known what it's about."

Having worked with Hollywood heavyweights like Quentin Tarantino, Sir Anthony Hopkins and now Allen, Banderas - who turns 50 in August - has two dreams.

"I have admired many of my colleagues in the business but I would love to work with Robert De Niro - he is one of my heroes, and I have yet to work with someone of that calibre," he says, as his first wish.

"He was the one who inspired me through films like Raging Bull and Taxi Driver. When I started doing movies, I would say, 'I want to be like that guy, he is so convincing'. I thought he was so powerful and so special."

His second dream is to make his own films.

"I am interested in working behind the cameras," he says.

"It does not correspond with the fact I am turning 50 years old, but from experience. I have shot 82 films now. When you've been in front of the cameras for so many years, you get more and more interested to tell the story from your point of view and I will develop that further."

Far from resting on his laurels, Banderas - the new face of Iberostar hotels - also has business ventures including his own fragrance company, a vineyard in northern Spain and does his bit for charities.

"I have many activities, but I have a large capacity to do lots of things," he says, with another chuckle.

Asked about his milestone birthday, he says: "I don't want to reflect on my life or my career, I just look ahead. I want to continue living and not look back."

He's been admired for his continuing support to Melanie, his second wife of 14 years, as she struggles with her demons.

"I wouldn't change anything for good or bad. I'm a positive person, and I try to see the positive side," he insists.

As our time comes to an end, Banderas gives me the typically Spanish greeting of a kiss on both cheeks and a hug.

"It's been a crazy month. I have to go to Los Angeles tomorrow, then to New York straight after. I am very tired," he admits, before advising me about the strong Mexican sun.

Extra time - Antonio Banderas :: Jose Antonio Dominguez Banderas was born in Benalmadena, in Spain, on August 10, 1960.

:: He began acting at 19, working in small theatres before meeting Almodovar and appearing in his films.

:: He married Griffith in May 1996, whom he met a year earlier when they shot Two Much.

:: He's known as the guy who 'turned down Madonna' after she admitted to having a crush on him after they starred in Evita: "That's impressive. Nothing happened - ever, never."

:: He still keeps in touch with her: "I saw her the other day. She invited us to go to her house for a party - there was Robert De Niro, Mick Jagger and me all doing the conga!"

:: Please note: Shrek Forever After will be released in cinemas on Friday July 2.

:: Antonio Banderas turns 50 on August 10.

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