Antonio Banderas, one of the few Spanish actors who enjoy equally successful careers in both their own Spain and Hollywood, has a diverse and outstanding body of work. He has performed in comedy, drama, horror, thriller, and action movies while also dancing, singing, voice-acting, carrying the weight of lead roles, and making an impression in supporting roles. Below are some of Antonio Banderas movies most memorable performances from his enigmatic career, taking into account certain actor-specific facts.
1. Pierre DuLaine in Take The Lead (2006)
Director- Liz Friedlander
After witnessing a black teenager damaging the director of a public school’s automobile in New York, the kind dance instructor Pierre Dulaine offers to teach dance to children the following day in order to instil respect, dignity, self-confidence, trust, and teamwork. The troublemakers in custody are offered by the reluctant director Augustine James in the hopes that Pierre will abandon his plans. When the group agrees to participate in a ballroom dance competition, Pierre defeats the prejudice and ignorance of the pupils, parents, and other teachers.
2. Nicolas Bardo in Femme Fatale (2002)
Director- Brian De Palma
During an exhibition during the Cannes 2001 Festival, the burglar Laurie Ash pulls off an outrageous theft and steals the pricey diamond jewel known as the “Eye of the Serpent.” She betrays her allies and is mistaken by a typical family as Lily, a lady who lost her husband and son in an accident and has been gone ever since. Lily takes a bath in her own bathtub one day before returning home and killing herself. Laurie unquestionably adopts Lily’s identity and travels to America to wed a wealthy man who later serves as the American ambassador to France. Laurie’s past follows her back to France.
3. Ángel in Matador (1986)
Director- Pedro Almodóvar
Matador Diego Montez, who was forced to retire following a goring, is now a teacher. One of his pupils is Angel, a young man who is so perversely eager to please that he makes an attempt to rape Diego’s girlfriend, Eva. Even though he fails, he surrenders and admits to a string of murders he has recently witnessed in psychic visions. He is defended by a lawyer, but the police are not persuaded that Angel is the genuine criminal.
4. Pancho Villa in And Starring Pancho Villa As Himself (TV Movie,2003)
Director- Bruce Beresford
Pancho Villa, a revolutionary from Mexico, invited studios to film his actual clashes with Porfirio Diaz’s troops in 1914 in order to collect money for purchasing weapons and ammunition. The Mutual Film Corporation, represented by producer D.W. Griffith, expresses interest in the idea and dispatches the director Frank Thayer to meet with Pancho Villa directly to discuss a contract. They become very close, and over the next months, Frank creates “The Life of General Villa“, his first feature-length film with five reels as opposed to the customary two. Following the edition, the audience is shown another another Pancho Villa reality.
5. Dr. Robert Ledgard in The Skin I Live In (2011)
Director- Pedro Almodóvar
The Skin I Live In movie is one of the best Antonio Banderas movies and he played Dr. Robert Ledgard character. Plastic surgeon Dr. Robert Ledgard has been working to create a new skin that could help burn sufferers live since his beloved wife suffered horrific burns in a vehicle accident. Ledgard has finally developed a skin that protects the body yet is still delicate to touch after 12 years. Vera is being held captive against her will in the doctor’s mansion when Ledgard tests his brainchild on her with the help of his devoted housekeeper.
6. Alberto in Bajarse al moro (1989)
Director- Fernando Colomo
A girl regularly transports narcotics from Morocco for her cousin while living with her cousin, who makes some money from trafficking, and her boyfriend, a police officer. There is a need for more because everyone occasionally uses grass to smoke. When she decides to transport a friend of hers who has recently moved away from home to Morocco, she runs into difficulties because it is her buddy’s first time, which makes it challenging. However, because everyone is so open-minded, there is no issue they wouldn’t strive to address.
7. Gregorio Cortez in Spy Kids (2001)
Director- Robert Rodriguez
The best secret agents in the world are Gregorio and Ingrid Cortez. Their objective is to kill each other. They start to fall in love while they are just an inch apart. Carmen and Juni are their two children from their marriage. Their children are not informed. They receive a missionary call ten years later. The Cortez children are being watched by their Uncle Felix when rogue agents break into the house, and Uncle Felix discloses the truth—their parents are spies who were recently abducted, and Felix is not really their uncle. Carmen and Juni attempt to save the world by escaping and rescuing their parents.
8. Alejandro Murrieta in The Mask Of Zorro (1998)
Director- Martin Campbell
Don Diego de la Vega, alias Zorro, the mysterious black-caped, masked avenger of the oppressed, is imprisoned in 1821 Old California after once more embarrassing the villainous Spanish ruler Don Rafael Montero. Nearly twenty years after his daring escape from Don Rafael, who had raised his only daughter as his own, the veteran swordsman takes Alejandro Murietta under his wing and begins to train him to become the next Zorro. Now that the fresh young rapier-wielder is ready to foil the evil governor’s cunning preparations, the stage is set for a fierce last encounter.
9. Armand in Interview With The Vampire (1994)
Director- Neil Jordan
The approximately 200-year-old vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac tells sceptic reporter Daniel Molloy the incredible tale of his perpetual transformation and a life worse than death against the dreary backdrop of San Francisco. Louis’ morbidly intriguing story centres on his continuously regretting choice to embrace the tyranny of blood and, above all, his maker: the alluring blonde aristocrat of death, Lestat de Lioncourt. It spans two hundred years of painful betrayals, profound seclusion, and unquenchable thirst.
10. Salvador Mallo in Pain and Glory (2019)
Director- Pedro Almodóvar
While preparing for the re-release of SABOR, a movie from his early career, a romantic Salvador Mallo, a filmmaker in the latter stages of his career, is afflicted with health problems. He is rendered helpless by a severe depression that cripples his creativity as his physical issues start to drain him of his energy. He reunites with Crespo, the leading man of SABOR, after a 30-year estrangement, in this desperate position. In between engagements, Crespo uses self-medication because he has also experienced worse times.
By utilising Crespo’s “vacation” routes, Salvo is able to revisit the tranquil settings of his past, including memories of his emotionally distraught but loving mother, the innocence of his first crush, and his greatest inspiration and lover who was “lost” to addiction. Salvo is also able to reach for existential solace in the form of a script for an autobiographical novel that has been put on hold.
11. Che in Evita (1996)
Director- Alan Parker
Eva Duarte Peron rises out of poverty to marry the powerful President Juan Peron and become an Argentine actress. Through a sequence of flashbacks, Eva changes from an underprivileged adolescent to a powerful and influential adult. Eva leaves for Argentina after the passing of her father, where she dates a number of wealthy men before meeting Juan. Eva gets admire and despise due to her immense power and influence.
12. El Mariachi in Desperado (1995)
Director- Robert Rodriguez
A shady Mexican border hamlet is rule by Bucho, a wealthy yet casually murderous drug lord. El Mariachi, a former musician who now carries a gun in his guitar case, gets enrage by Bucho and his men’s error. Bucho shot El Mariachi’s fretting hand through, rendering him unable to play the guitar, and was responsible for the death of the woman who was El Mariachi’s girlfriend. In search of retribution, the former musician who has turned into a murdering machine arrives in town to put Bucho out of business. However, he doesn’t find many sympathisers other from Carolina, who owns a bookstore that doesn’t seem to draw many customers.
