Antonio Banderas - I Don't Want to Continue Playing Characters Like I'm 30… I'm Not Afraid of Showing Myself Older.

From '80s Almodóvar to Hollywood swashbuckling, Antonio Banderas’ early career was the perfect template for a European actor wishing to make it in LA. But as he returns to Spain for wicked film satire Official Competition, it’s his own third act that is proving indelible. He joins Total Film to talk acting, awards and ageing.

- By James Mottram

Maybe he’s in Zorro mode. Or his gunslinger from Desperado. But Antonio Banderas is moving at speed. It’s the middle Saturday at the Venice Film Festival, and the Spanish star is dressed casually, but marching towards Total Film with intent. First, interviews at the Excelsior Hotel followed by a press conference and premiere. “We’re gonna use English?” he questions, his Andalucian lilt still in evidence despite all his time in LA.

Soon turning 62, he’s sporting a clipped beard and auburn-dyed cropped hair – although if that’s for his closely guarded role in the upcoming Indiana Jones 5 he won’t say. Instead, he’s on a mission to talk about new movie Official Competition, a gutsy satire of the Spanish film industry that would give The Player a run for its money. He plays Félix Rivero, a superstar actor about to undertake a new project with fearless director Lola Cuevas (Penélope Cruz, wearing a wig of flamered curls that match Félix’s Lamborghini).

As the egocentric Félix begins a torrid rehearsal process, it’s a masterful turn from Banderas. “It’s a treat to be reminded of his comic adroitness,” praised The New Yorker. “With a litany of shrugs, pouts, and sidelong glances, he demonstrates how eager Félix is to have his feelings either massaged or hurt.” You might also say it’s drawn from 40 years of experience in the industry, beginning when Pedro Almodóvar hired Banderas, barely in his twenties, to play a gay terrorist in his 1982 film, Labyrinth Of Passion.