His crowded work schedule, with such entries as Woody Allen, Broadway, Dali and Steven Soderbergh penciled in, testifies to Antonio Banderas’ savvy in handling Hollywood’s ins and outs.

“After 20 years in this very tough industry, I can now cope without stress,” the actor said in an interview with Efe. He is the best possible ambassador for Spanish filmmaking, a workaholic who is grateful to have grasped how to adapt to the idiosyncrasies of the U.S. industry.

As he once did with Spain’s at the age of 19 when he arrived in Madrid from his hometown of Malaga. He has traveled a long road with the solid guidance of moviemakers like Pedro Almodovar, Alan Parker, Martin Campbell and Robert Rodriguez, and which has now brought him under the direction of Woody Allen.

With the New York filmmaker he has shot “You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger,” which will hit the silver screen next fall and in which he shares top billing with Anthony Hopkins and Naomi Watts.

“Woody Allen is a legend. He nearly died laughing when I told him that in 1984 I wore a T-shirt with his picture on it,” the actor said, adding that he has radically changed the idea he had about the director of “Manhattan.”

“They had given me another image of him, but I discovered that he was really a sweet person,” he said. “He treated actors with a devastating logic.”

If Penelope Cruz won her Oscar for her work with Allen in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” why not believe that the actor from Malaga could win his first nomination for a golden statuette?

“Impossible,” he said. “An actor knows immediately when his character has the potential to win prizes, and what I do in this movie is very sporadic, very much at the service of the film.”

Another small but substantial part is the one he is doing for Steven Soderbergh, a director who is doing what none of his compatriots have managed to do, which is to have Banderas go to back to Spain to play a part.

He will arrive in Barcelona at the end of the month to act in “Knock Out,” the latest project of the prolific moviemaker who made “Ocean’s Eleven” and “Traffic.”

But the role he has been wrestling with for years is that of Salvador Dali.

“It’s a very costly project considering it’s not an action film,” Banderas said. “A budget of $32 million is very high for a film about a painter, but they’re going to shoot it.”

Though at first first he didn’t see himself playing the part of the genius of Figueras, Britain’s Simon West was able to convince him after pushing him to do an audition on film.

Now Banderas is excited about the movie.

“It’s one of the best scripts that has come into my hands in my entire professional career,” said the star of “The Mask of Zorro” and “Evita,” who sincerely believes that the script “has been imbued with the same surrealistic essence as Dali’s paintings.”

Upon returning to Los Angeles, Banderas will concentrate on his work as a producer and will work on the Oscar nomination of the animated short subject “La Dama y la Muerte” (The Lady and the Reaper), directed by Javier Recio and co-produced by the actor’s company Green Moon.

Here again Banderas shows his Hollywood savvy – he has already announced that he will be working behind the scenes so his protege can pick up the prestigious prize awarded by the U.S. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The Malaga native is going to “seek advice from the chiefs” of Dreamworks – those who made the “Shrek” saga with which he will remain involved in the coming years – to organize showings of the short subject at the all-powerful U.S. production company and host cocktail parties at his home in Los Angeles.

He will also apply the know-how acquired after dubbing the voice of Puss in Boots in the movies and will take charge of directing the voices for “Goleor,” his production company’s upcoming feature film in 3-D.

But it has been on Broadway where he was won the highest professional recognition, winning a Tony Award nomination as the star of the musical “Nine.”

Without taking a break, Banderas will fly from Barcelona to the Big Apple to begin rehearsals for “Zorba,” a musical based on the novel by Nikos Kazantzakis, with which he take up the legacy of actor Anthony Quinn.

So when will he get back together with Almodovar? “Pedro knows that I’m always there. I’ll film with him whenever possible. It’s up to him now – I respect his timing and I’m waiting,” he said. EFE