Antonio Banderas
Antonio Banderas has appeared in almost 70 films during his career, both as a “ chico Almodóvar” (Almodóvar boy) and as a Hollywood star. But this 46-year-old native of the southern Spanish city of Málaga says that he gets the most satisfaction from reading a good book, that and lending his voice to the character Puss in Boots in “Shrek 2” and the soon-to-be-released “Shrek the Third”.Q. Which book are you reading at the moment?
A. I’ve spent a long time on just one book, “El camino de los ingleses.” That novel by Antonio Soler knocked me over when I read it because it summed up a way of thinking in the Spain of the ‘70s that I broke away from when I left Málaga.
Q. Which book has had the biggest impact on you in your lifetime?
A. “Demian” by Hermann Hesse, because I read it when I was 15 or 16 and it changed my life. It made me read “Siddhartha.”
Q. Who is your favorite author?
A. There are many. I’ve always had a personal weak spot for Isabel Allende. But I’m also a proud Andalusian so put down Federico García Lorca, one of the heroes of my childhood.
Q. How would you encourage reading?
A. By example. For me, reading is the source of the (stories) I want to tell. “Crazy in Alabama ” came from a novel although I’d already read a completed script. And with “El camino de los ingleses” (English title: Summer Rain), my second film as a director, the novel gave me the movie.
