Spanish actor Antonio Banderas, star of countryman Pedro Almodovar's latest film "La piel que habito" (The Skin I Live In), said it will take audiences at least 20 years to fully appreciate the drama/thriller, or roughly the same amount of time they needed to assimilate his films of the 1980s.
Banderas told Efe in an interview that having a director with the courage "to create these universes and continue exploring and posing questions is priceless," and he does not know if Spain can "appreciate it now."
The actor was in Madrid this week to present Almodovar's 18th film, in which he plays brilliant plastic surgeon and psychopath Robert Ledgard, who is haunted by his wife's and daughter's suicides. The film, a futuristic thriller with touches of surrealist and Almodovarian humor that premiered at Cannes in May, tells the story of Vera, a beautiful woman held captive and under observation at the surgeon's home. "What Ledgard aims to do goes beyond a thirst for revenge. He's a man who tries to play God," Banderas said.
The actor vehemently denied any disagreements with the filmmaker, who "discovered" him in 1982 with "Laberinto de pasiones" (Labyrinth of Passions) and also cast him in the 1986 film "Matador" and his two subsequent films "La ley del deseo" (Law of Desire) and "Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios" (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown).
"Pedro's like that. He generates extreme opinions, either you love him or hate him, either you'll celebrate (the film) or think it's impudent," Banderas said, adding that he has no details on a English-language project that Almodovar might be preparing. "But if there's a character for me, I'll be there for Pedro. He just has to whistle."