Evita, 1996

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Director: Alan Parker

Co-Stars: Madonna, Jonathan Pryce

Antonio stars as Ché, the narrator of the story, in this big-budget film adaptation of the Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice musical, Evita. Casting Antonio as Ché was an easy choice to make according to director Alan Parker. "Antonio's been involved with this film through many of its manifestations, when the film was likely to be directed by Glenn Gordon Caron and by Oliver Stone. I saw an original audition tape Antonio had done five years ago, when he was unknown in America except to art-house audiences for his Pedro Almodovar films. I saw ten seconds of that tape and said, 'He's it.'"

Parker describes Antonio: "He is such a beautiful man and a real joy for any director. He's always ready to work and fantastic to watch. There is so much going on in that face."

Contrary to popular belief, Evita is not Antonio's first singing role in a film. In 1985 he was in La Corte del Faraon, based on an old operetta censored during the Franco regime, and he had also been in musicals on stage. Music is fundamental to Antonio's life. He has played guitar since he was fourteen, plays piano, composes and collects music. "He speaks everything singing," says Antonio's friend Imanol Arias. "Music is the goal of his life."

Antonio describes Evita as probably the biggest challenge of his career so far "because of the technical aspects of this film, that are totally new for me, not because of the fact that I have to sing. If I had played it in theater it would have been different, because first we would have worked on the acting and then on the singing part. In the movie it has been the opposite: first we had to record the songs, and then shoot the movie without the chance of changing anything, which was something very hard for an actor like me who always likes to improvise."

Evita received mixed reviews but the critics were generally very impressed with Antonio's performance as the sardonic everyman Ché -- and by his voice. "Yes, he can sing," says The Dallas News, "In a smoldering seductive voice dripping with sarcasm."

Evita composer Andrew Lloyd Webber said: "I knew him as an actor. I was very surprised at the singing voice... Antonio is quite a triumph." Lloyd Webber was so impressed, in fact, that he has reportedly offered Antonio the lead in the upcoming musical film version of The Phantom of the Opera.

Related Information

Antonio was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical. He lost to Tom Cruise. Evita won the Golden Globe for Best Movie (Musical or Comedy).

Evita's two main stars caused quite an uproar during filming as Madonna's pregnancy started to become obvious and Antonio married 5-months pregnant Melanie Griffith in a secret ceremony in London on May 14, attracting the attention of the world's press.

When he and Melanie returned to Spain for the summer their every move was photographed. Antonio spent the summer preparing for the birth of his first child and taking fencing lessons to prepare for his next movie, The Mask of Zorro.

Antonio's first child, a daughter named Estela del Carmen Banderas Griffith, was born September 24, 1996 in Marbella, Spain, a few months before the premiere of Evita.

Just before Christmas 1996, Antonio and the Evita cast attended lavish premieres of the movie in Los Angelas, London, Rome and Madrid.

Antonio's singing so impressed people that record producers in Spain (which he turned down) and the United States contacted him about making recordings.

In 1974 in Spain, Antonio had seen Andrew Lloyd Webber's Hair. It had a profound affect on the senses of the young teenager who had been raised on classical music and theater. He hadn't known that theater like this existed and he immediately knew what he wanted to do with his life.