ACTOR Antonio Banderas has revealed his chest pains on January 26 that led to his being hospitalised in Surrey, UK, were caused by a heart attack – but that he has 'been very lucky'.
“I had three stents fitted,” he says during a press conference ahead of tonight's (Saturday's) Spanish Film Festival in his home city of Málaga, where he will be awarded the 'Golden Bouquet', or Biznaga de Oro.
The name translates literally as a 'ball-shaped jasmine bouquet', but in mainstream Spanish it is generally used to refer to the Málaga Spanish Film Festival awards.
“As I've had cardiac arhythmias for some time, I chose to undergo a thermoablation, but that's not as dramatic as it sounds.
“I've put the 'potato', as my brother calls it, through a lot in the last 37 years, but the heart attack hasn't caused it any damage.
“I feel great, and looking forward to getting back to work.”
Concerning his award, Banderas – who now lives in Surrey with his partner Nicole Kempel – says it 'feels as though the last 37 years have been a dream' and that the whole thing started '15 metres from here', meaning in Málaga's Roman Theatre.
“I turned up in the 1970s dressed as an Ancient Roman...riding a Vespa,” he reveals.
Banderas remembers how he first broke into the Hollywood scene as an actor: “I was staying in a New York hotel and, as I didn't speak English, I didn't dare call room service.
“But there was a Naval surplus shop below the hotel where a guy called Rodríguez was working, so I asked him if he could get me a luncheon meat sandwich.”
Banderas' early career was as an 'Almodóvar Boy', with the prolific off-the-wall cult director whom he describes as 'someone I owe a great deal to' – but admits working with him is 'very tough' and he is 'not easy', since 'every take becomes a type of creative hell'.
He believes 'the best of his career is yet to come' and that he wants to go back to directing films, something he enjoyed in two productions, but admits he was 'too green' at.
One of his possible new projects is playing the part of surrealist artist Pablo Picasso in a film showing the creation of the huge and disturbing black-and-white painting Guernica, an interpretation of the famous Civil War bombing of the Basque town of the same name, which has a room to itself, complete with preparatory sketches, in Madrid's Reina Sofía Museum.
Finally, Antonio had a few words to say about the new president of the USA: “He's damaging for Hollywood, but I find it difficult to believe Donald Trump will remain in power for the next four years.
“What is a bit scary is that the people elected him – but this is a complex issue arising from the general disillusion the world has in traditional politics.”
Although keen to get back on the performing arts scene, Antonio says he intends to slow down a little as he was 'becoming a workaholic'.
