As I shake hands with their handsome owner I think, “Lucky dogs.”
See also:Melanie Griffith candidly discusses her marriage and the road to sobriety.
Banderas leads me inside to a book-lined study.
Now 51, he grew up in Malaga, Spain, when dictator Francisco Franco was still in power.
This month he will reprise his turn as Puss in Boots in themovieof the same name.
“I would say he’s a lot like Antonio.”
More than once Banderas rises and gently moves Maxwell to the floor.
(“Lucky cat,” I think.)
The actor’s warmth and affability his casual, sensual charm are well-known to his colleagues and friends.
“He makes everyone around him relaxed,” says Robert Rodriguez, who cast Banderas inDesperadoin 1994.
“He’s very generous and one of the sweetest guys.”
(His first marriage, to Spanish actress Ana Leza, ended in divorce.)
Banderas admits that he and his wife have struggled at times, notably with Griffith’s substance abuse.
But the challenges, he says, have only strengthened their relationship.
And I think: “Lucky Melanie.”
Was it hard for you to adjust?
A:It was difficult.
But making the movie was not the most difficult part.
The problem was living in a place where I didn’t understand anybody.
I was staying in a hotel, and I was afraid even to call room service.
Q:How did the opportunity occur for you to come here in the first place?
Q:Soon after that you didPhiladelphia, playing opposite Tom Hanks, thenDesperado.
At what point did you finally say, “Okay, I’m here for a while”?
A:When I met Melanie and had to make a decision about where we were going to live.
She had two kids, and they had two different fathers in America.
The kids cannot pay the price of whatever love story was happening between Melanie and me.
We cannot be putting them on planes every 15 days.
I was alone in my first marriage I didn’t have kids.
So it was clear: I am the one.
Q:Did that decision feel like a sacrifice?
A:Not really.
If she had been living in Uganda [laughs], yeah.
But we’re talking about the United States of America a really great country.
Q:You’ve done many different films.
In your latest, you play a cat in the animatedPuss in Boots.
What do you think of the Puss character?
