Madrid, July 02: Spanish Hollywood actor Antonio Banderas will have to cede a part of his property in the southern jet-set resort of Marbella to the city council, because the land was acquired illegally by the previous owner, the daily El Pais reported Wednesday.Banderas bought the seaside villa with a swimming pool in 1997.

It later turned out that it had been built partly on protected land with an illegal licence. About 18,000 illegal building permits were granted under 1991-2001 populist mayor Jesus Gil y Gil.

Gil, who died in 2004, faced numerous court cases for corruption. The new Marbella general urban plan requires Banderas to give up a lateral part of the property measuring about 1,250 square metres, which blocks public access to the nearby beach, according to the daily.

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Hollywood couple Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffith have been ordered to give up a large chunk of their beachfront estate on Spain’s Costa del Sol as the country continues to crackdown on “illegal” coastal properties.

The Spanish film star and his wife have been told that more than 14,000 square feet of their £5 million mansion’s gardens will be seized to allow public access to the beach.

This isn’t the first time Spanish officials have requested the couple do some instant renovating. Last year they were instructed to demolish a 300-square-foot wing of the mansion because it was built with a license issued to the previous homeowner and should not have been granted. The actors appealed that ruling and a decision is still pending.

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The Spanish film star Antonio Banderas and his wife Melanie Griffith have been ordered by planning chiefs to hand over part of their beachfront property on the Costa del Sol as part of a draconian campaign against 'illegally' built properties.According to reports in Spain, the 48-year-old actor and his American wife, the Hollywood star Melanie Griffith, 51, have been told part of the gardens at their £5 million mansion near Marbella is to be made public land.
Over 14,000 square feet of land belonging to the couple will be seized to allow public access to the beach. The confiscated strip lies adjacent to the 40 ft swimming pool at the villa, named La Gaviota, which the Hollywood pair have used as their summer home for more than a decade.A source told local media: "The swimming pool itself will go untouched, but the area being seized goes right up to the edge of the pool, which will ruin their enjoyment of it."

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Spanish film actor Antonio Banderas has revealed he’s wary of stripping off onscreen, and that he no longer wants to flaunt his body as he gets older.
Banderas, 48, who had to disrobe for a passionate scene with Aussie actress Radha Mitchell in upcoming crime drama ‘The Code’, now feels uncomfortable getting naked in front of the cameras.“It’s always uneasy when you get into bed with a woman on screen - it’s difficult because you have 50 people around and there are some people who are sensitive to that,” Contactmusic quoted him as telling the New York Post.

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Spanish film actor Antonio Banderas has revealed he’s wary of stripping off onscreen, and that he no longer wants to flaunt his body as he gets older. Banderas, 48, who had to disrobe for a passionate scene with Aussie actress Radha Mitchell in upcoming crime drama The Code, now feels uncomfortable getting naked in front of the cameras.

“It’s always uneasy when you get into bed with a woman on screen – it’s difficult because you have 50 people around and there are some people who are sensitive to that,” Contactmusic quoted him as telling the New York Post. “Radha was - she is a lady, so I tried to be as respectful as possible. At the same time, I’m nearly 50 years old, and even I start getting more wary of those scenes... Everything changes as you get older - your mind, your body, the way you view the world,” he added.

While contemporary audiences might know him best as the swashbuckling Zorro, the gun-toting El Mariachi, or the voice of Shrek's furry friend, Puss in Boots (who's set to get his own spin-off film in 2012), Spanish native and Hollywood veteran Antonio Banderas got his start in the audacious films of art-house darling Pedro Almodovar (including Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!, Matador, and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown). Naturally, we were dying to see if Banderas' favorite films were as varied, and as controversial, as the movies in which he's starred -- and we weren't disappointed.

We were also curious to address a pricklier subject regarding movies and the artists who make them, no matter their audience. This week, Banderas, Morgan Freeman, and director Mimi Leder attempt to subvert a popular way of thinking in Hollywood with their heist thriller, The Code; namely, that "direct-to-DVD" doesn't necessarily equal "bad." In The Code, Banderas and Freeman play criminals who form a tenuous partnership in order to pull off a huge heist in New York City; gangsters, girls, double-crosses, and, yes, a room full of lasers provide familiar genre obstacles for the pair, who enjoy a smooth chemistry onscreen in a genre exercise that probably could have performed well in theaters in the '90s.

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Antonio Banderas will be the only regular 'Shrek' cast member to feature in spin-off story 'Puss In Boots'.Antonio Banderas is the only 'Shrek' cast member to return for 'Puss In Boots'.

The actor is set to reprise his role voicing the title character but because the film will tell the tale of the swashbuckling feline's origins before he met the rest of the group, none of the regular 'Shrek' cast will feature, including Mike Myers' Shrek, Cameron Diaz's Princess Fiona or Eddie Murphy's Donkey.

Writer David H. Steinberg confirmed: "It will be all new characters - except Puss. It doesn't overlap with 'Shrek' at all. Partly that was done to tell an original Puss story, but partly because we didn't know what 'Shrek 4' - and now 'Shrek 5' - were going to do with the characters and we couldn't write conflicting storylines.''Antonio recently spoke of his excitement at starting the "emotional" movie.

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There’s a movie coming out June 23rd starring Antonio Banderas and Morgan Freeman called The Code. It never had a theatrical release and based on what I’ve heard it seems kind of odd this went straight to DVD. It’s averaging 6/10 at IMDB and my buddy Ed from ComingSoon.net commented that he thought it was good enough to warrant a spin on the big screen.

The film was previously called Thick as Thieves and while The Code sounds cooler, if they didn’t have enough faith to release this theatrically I don’t know why the bothered with a title change.

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Is there really no limit as to who or what can get spun-off into a feature film? Puss in Boots, the feral feline whom made his debut in Shrek 2 is getting his own movie, and according to ComingSoon it will be an origin story. They recently spoke to Puss in Boots’ portrayer Antonio Banderas about the character’s future in the upcoming Shrek film as well as his solo effort.

Next year Puss in Boots will return for his third Shrek film entitled Shrek Forever After, which is the fourth installment of the DreamWorks franchise. Banderas has had several recording sessions for the latest feature and is nearing completion.

During one of his routine studio visits he was given a sneak peek at the script for the possible Puss in Boots spin-off. Someone sounds excited. Banderas confirmed that the story will deal with his character’s background and gives some insight into how he became an assasin. His interpretation of the script is kind of scary.

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The Code is coming to DVD/Blu-Ray via First Look Pictures on June 23rd, and is supposed to be a twisty/turny heist movie that will mess with your mind. There is a code amongst thieves, but what happens when they mess with it and turn on each other? I'm sure lots of screaming, yelling, arguing, and possibly hugging at the end of it, but we won't know till next month! Until then, check out this large collection of images from the film, exclusive to this here corner of the internet.