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It Was An Honor And Privilege To Arrive To This Country 16 Years Ago With Almost No Money In My Pocket. A Lot Has Happened Since Then.

-Antonio Banderas

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It Was An Honor

Antonio Banderas

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It Was An Honor And Privilege To Arrive To This Country 16 Years Ago With Almost No Money In My Pocket. A Lot Has Happened Since Then.

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Listen, I Think Movies Serve Many Different Purposes, From Those Movies That Are Frivolous And Just An Entertainment, To Movies That Just Go To Exploring The Complexities Of The Human Soul. Everything Is Valid If It's Done With Honesty And Dignity, And I Actually Do Both Of Those Types Of Movies In My Career.

You Have To Work With People You Really Love.

I Think We Are Realising That Governments Can't Govern Us Any More.

I've Done Many Different Movies In Many Different Contexts.

I Don't Know, If I Had The Secret Recipe That I Actually Could Give Everybody, I Think It Has To Do Very Much With Believing In Yourself And Giving Time. Giving Time To Each Member Of The Family.

I've Never Worried About What Audiences Would Accept Or Had A Game Plan Regarding The Career. I Never Had An Idea Of How I Should Look To My Fans Or Anybody Else.

In Spain We Have A Saying About The Essentials Of Life: Good Food, Good Wine, Good Sex, Good Sleep.

I'm In My 60s Now, And Just Running Almost 50 Meters With Explosives Going On, It Was Kind Of Like, "oh, My God! What Am I Doing Here?"

I Have A Fantastic Studio In My Home, And It's My Biggest Toy. I Have About A Half A Million Dollars Worth Of Musical Equipment In My House.

Characters Don't Belong To Anyone, Not Even The Person Who Plays Them.

When You Go To The Movie Theater And The Opening Of This Movie And You See The Kids Just Cracking Up With A Character You Are Giving Your Voice To, You Get Goose Bumps. It's So Beautiful.

I Did My First Movie, "the Mambo Kings," In America Without Speaking The Language. I Learned The Lines Phonetically. I Had An Interpreter Actually Just To Understand Directions From My Director.

I Think The Problems With Being Older Come When Your Body Cannot Do What Your Mind Wants. Then, Houston, We Have A Problem.

You See A Woman, 22 Years Old, Going Out With A Guy Over 60 - And It's Kind Of Natural. But If It Happens In The Opposite Direction Everyone Says, 'what Is Going On There?

When You Go To A Movie With So Many Stars [like The Expendables 3], You Don't Know What You're Going To Find, Exactly. You Don't Know If It's Going To Be An Ego Trip, Ego On The Set, Who Is Taking This Position, Where The Camera Is, I Want To Be In Front Of This Guy - That's True... It's Worse, Actually, When You Have People Around You That Are Very Hungry To Obtain Something That They Never Had. Success.

Every Time, I Reaffirm In Myself That The More Comfortable You Are, The Less You Are Creating. You Have To Feel A Little Bit Of Pain In The Creation.

In My Personal Life, I Am Very Contemplative.

We're Living In Hard Times.

[pablo] Picasso Was Born In My Hometown, In Málaga, So I Have This Of Strange Connection With His Persona And With What He Did. He Left Málaga, Practically At The Same Time And Age That I Did.

If You Become Very Self-conscious About What You Are Doing, You Kill. You Kill The Character. Then It Doesn't Work. You Have To Come From A Sincere Place. And You Don't Think Too Much. I Don't Go To The Hotel And I Start Thinking What Am I Going To Say Tomorrow And Start Writing Things Down.

I Think Shrek Makes An Effect In Older People. And There Are Many Things In The Movie That You Saw That Are Not For Kids. Kids Would Not Understand Certain Things.

Cinema Has Opened A World Of Possibilities Up For Me.

Always When You Go To A New Country And They Teach You Bad Words, You Just Say Them Without Knowing The Value And People Look At You Because You Didn't Know That Value Of Them.

Cats Are Very Independent Animals. They're Very Sexy, If You Want. Dogs Are Different. They're Familiar. They're Obedient. You Call A Cat, You Go, 'cat, Come Here.' He Doesn't Come To You Unless You Have Something In Your Hand That He Thinks Might Be Food. They're Very Free Animals, And I Like That.

This Girl Said "yes" When I Wasn't Ready. I Kissed Her Lightly And Got So Dizzy I Had To Sit Down.

I Do Yoga Every Morning, Then I Run For Half An Hour And Take A Sauna.

Sometimes I Feel Very Guilty, So I Don't Know If I Am A Clear Example Of A Perfect Father, Because Sometimes I Also Just Punish Myself, Saying I'm Not Doing Probably The Right Thing At This Particular Moment. It's A Secret.

There Are Some Movies That I Would Like To Forget, For The Rest Of My Life. But Even Those Movies Teach Me Things.

Making Movies Is Difficult And You Get Disorientated Sometimes - Even When You're Working With Fantastic Talent.

I Think The Worst Enemy For Success Is The Anxiousness To Get It.

I Wake Up Every Morning, Look In The Mirror And Ask, 'am I A Sex Symbol?' Then I Go Back To Bed Again. It's Stupid To Think That Way.

I Had An Idea And I Wanted Just To Make It Work. And I Am Never, Ever Secure On The Set That What I Am Doing Is Going To Translate To The Screen. It Never Changes.

I Think That Comedy Is One Of The More Serious Things That You Can Do In Our Day, Especially In The World That We're Living In.

Hollywood Is A Very Strong Machine That Needs, And In... Especially With Female Actors, Fresh Flesh. It's That Cruel. But That's The Way It Is.

Up Until The Time I Was 31 Years Old, In Spain, I Still Didn't Know How I Was Going To Pay The Rent.

Movies Serve Many Purposes, And I've Visited Many Of Those Genres, From The Most Light, Frivolous Comedy That Is Just Trying To Make You Laugh, To Movies That Explore The Most Complicated Side Of The Human Soul. As An Actor, I Play All Of Those Things, And I Still Like It.

I Long To Get Back Into Theater.

Expectation Is The Mother Of All Frustration.

I Love My Country. And I Would Have To Renounce My Spanish Citizenship To Become A U.s. Citizen.

I Cry A Lot, You Know. Which Is Very Difficult For A Man To Recognise, But I Do. I Cry In Movies, You Know, Just Watching Movies.

Is It A Man Walking On The Beach, Winking At The Girls And Looking For Going To Bed? Is It Someone Who Wears A Lot Of Gold Chains And Rings And Sits At The Bar? Because This Is Not Me! I Am Very, Very Latin, But Not So Much Lover.

Whatever Happens In My Life From Now On, I Know The Day I Finally Die - The Final Act Of My Script - People Will Always Make References To The Work I’ve Done With Almodóvar.

People Change, Couples Change, And You Have To Be Able To Accept What Is Coming Without Trying To Hang On Things That You Had Before That They May Disappear But They May Transform Into Something That Is Even Better.

I Suppose That I Am Ambitious.

You Have To Be In Good Shape, Basically. And Then, You Have To Have A Certain Craziness, If You're Going To Do Some Of The Action Things.

You Can Change A Person In Their Exterior Aspects, But The Soul Remains, It Still Is There, And Especially If That Person Has Been Changed Involuntarily.

I Always Feel That Art In General And Acting In Particular Should Make The Audience A Little Uncomfortable, To Slap Them And Wake Them Up.

No, Obviously, The Time Goes By, The English Gets Better. Ever Since I Met Melanie, That Was Almost Nine Years Ago Now, You Have To Just Speak The Language Continuously, Hone Every Word. So, And The Proof For Me Of That, Was Actually In Theater. It Has To Be Two Hours And 45 Minutes On The Stage Speaking A Language That Is Not Your Language, And Singing.

Sometimes I Am Just Playing The Character. I Will Move Out Of The Way Of The Microphone, And They Will Have To Tell Me. Because I Am Moving Around A Lot. I Am Performing The Cat. The Animators Look For That Material, To See If They Can Put It Back Into The Movie.

It Was An Honor And Privilege To Arrive To This Country 16 Years Ago With Almost No Money In My Pocket. A Lot Has Happened Since Then.

Everything Changes As You Get Older - Your Mind, Your Body, The Way You View The World.

As Much As You Know It, And You Know The Method, You Can Pretty Much Do What You Want. No Idea Is Going To Be Shot Down. You Just Put It In The Garbage Later. You Have To Say The Lines In Many Different Ways. So They Have A Lot Of Material To Work.

Im Now Projecting My Career In A Totally Different Direction. I Am Going To Work Less-way Less. And I Want To Work Better. I Want To Direct Again, I Want To Do More Theatre, And I Want To Do Exactly Those Movies That I Want To Do.

I've Never Liked Watching Real-life Couples Play Couples Onscreen Or Onstage. It Takes Me Out Of The Story.

There Were Many Generations Of Latino People Coming To This Country, Coming From Difficult Political Or Social Situations In Their Own Countries, And They Worked Very Hard To Have Their Kids Go To Universities. Well, Those Kids Came Out And They Are Now Doctors And Architects, Or They Are On The Supreme Court. That Has A Reflection In Hollywood. So, We Are Actually Very Proud That Our Characters Are Latinos, And I Think It's Good For Diversity And Cultural Interaction.

It's About Paying Attention To The Little Things, The Details... Constantly Rediscovering Your Partner, Knowing There's A Way Out Of Any Crisis.

I Think I Am Good In The Department Of Body Language And Fighting, And Stuff Like That. It's Just Natural To Me, Maybe Because I Love Sports.

I Don't Think There Is A Guy That Played More Gay Characters Than I Have Done In My Life.

When You Work In A Different Language You Are Not So Attached To The Words.

Different Languages

I Like Going Everywhere. And I Love Starting New Things.

To Be Married In Our Profession Is Not An Easy Thing. Theres Too Many Beautiful People Around, Very Interesting People. Its Just A Matter Of Really Having-being Patient And Probably Having The Capacity And The Faith Of Falling In Love With Your Own Wife Again. That Happens To Me.

Falling In Love

My Spanish Is Getting A Little Bit Loose. Sometimes I Go To Spain And After I've Been Talking With My Folks For A While... You Start Changing The Verb For The Adjective, For Example, Which Is A Common Thing Between Spanish And English. I Change That Sometimes But After A Couple Days There, Boom, I'm Back.

When You're Feeling Very Comfortable With An Actor, You Are Doing Nothing.

I Remember In "law Of Desire," Where I Played A Homosexual, That People Were More Upset That I Kissed A Man On The Mouth Than I Killed A Man. It's Interesting To See How People Can Pardon You For Murdering A Man, But They Can't Pardon You For Kissing One.

Sometimes I Have Wrinkles, In The Morning. It Depends On What Kind Of Night That I Had. I Accept Myself And The Way That I Am Growing Older. I Have Eye Bags And Some People Have Proposed To Me To Take Them Out But I Said No.

If They Had Offered Me James Bond, I Probably Couldn't Have Gone To England Anymore In My Life. James Bond With An Accent? That Would Have Been Something.

I Am Not An Action Hero. That Is Not The Only Thing I Did In My Career. Many People Know Me Because Of My Work With Pedro Almodóvar, Or Theater Or Films That I Have Done, Aside From That. But, That Was A Part Of My Career That I Embrace. I Loved Movies Like Zorro And Desperado And The 13th Warrior, And Other Movies Like That, That I Have Done And That Contain Some Action, But It's Not The Only Thing That I Do.

I'm A Complete Hypochondriac. If My Heart Starts Beating A Little Faster Than Normal, I Think I'm Having An Attack.

If You Call A Cat, He May Not Come. Which Doesn't Happen With Dogs. They're Different Types Of Animals. Cats Are Very Sexy I Think Too In The Way They Move.

I Drink A Bucket Of White Tea In The Morning. I Read About This Tea Of The Emperor Of China, Which Is Supposedly The Tea Of Eternal Youth. It's Called Silver Needle. It's Unbelievably Expensive, But I Get It On The Web.

I Discovered Very Soon, Especially For Movies, Because I Started In Theater, That Every Director Has His Own Universe. You Have To Be Free Enough To Try To Understand What He Wants From You. Especially When That Director Has A Tremendous Personality. And I'm Talking About People Like Pedro Almodovar And Robert Rodriguez And Quentin Tarantino And Woody Allen. And You Have To Adapt. If You Don't Adapt To Them, You Are Off The Thing.

As An Actor, When You Encounter A Psychopathic Personality, You Naturally Want To Make Him 'bigger Than Life,' As The Americans Say.

Bigger Than Life

It's A Character That I Always Found Really Likable. I'm Fond Of Zorro Because He Was A Popular Figure Who Worked For The People.

The Recycling In My House Was Imposed By My Kids.

I Couldn't Be With Someone Who Is Depressed All The Time.

I Get Caught Up In My Bubble Of Reading, Writing, Or Music.

It Is Just A Very Freaky Experience When You Go To The Movie Theater And You See It For The First Time. In Close-up You See Those Eyes. There Are Little Touches Here And There That I Recognize As Myself. The Process Is Fun.

People Are Not Patient Anymore.

First Of All, We Have Exactly The Opposite Type Of Audiences, For Obvious Reasons. So The Competition Is Not Going To Be Between The Movies. I Wish Dakota The Best, Not Only Because Of This Movie. I Know The Expectations Of These Movies Are Enormous But We Know-every Member Of The Family, Brother, Sister, Real Father-that She's A Good Actress.”

I Don't Want Anything I Don't Deserve, But If They Offer Me More Money, I'm Not Stupid.

A Couple Of Years After I Arrived In Hollywood, Everything That Was Latino Was Fashionable, And Years After, My Thought Is That We're Not Fashionable Anymore. We're Here To Stay.

I Mean, The Constitution Of This Country Was Written 200 Years Ago. The House I Was Living In In Madrid Is 350 Years Old! America Is Still A Project, And You Guys Are Working On It And Bringing New Things To It Every Day. That Is Beautiful To Watch.

I Wouldn't Want My Daughters To Date A Guy Like Me. I Was Dangerous Around Women In My Twenties. I'm Terrified That They Might End Up With Someone Like Me.

I Love The Diversity Of America. I Love The Plain, Normal Sense Of Humor Americans Have. It Is Not Wicked, Like In Some Countries. And I Also Love How New America Is.

I'm Not Such A Big Star. I Am Just A Little Planet. In Spain, People Don't Put So Much Attention On The Star System. But Here In America, I Can Feel It. Mostly, People Are Very, Very Nice. But There Are Also A Bunch Of Fanatics Behind The Stars.

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