La Ley del Deseo, 1987
(The Law of Desire)

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Writer and Director: Pedro Almodovar

Other Actors: Eusebio Poncela, Carmen Maura, Miguel Molina

This film about a mentally unstable young man (Antonio) obsessed with a cocaine-snorting film director (Eusebio Poncela) was controversial even in Europe for its explicit scenes of gay sex. The movie was censored in the United States.

Almodovar describes the characters interpreted by these two actors: "The character of Eusebio Poncela has a very big need to feel desire, but, as he says to Antonio, it doesn't matter for whom. There is something of pathos in the character of the artist or intellectual that reflects on his own condition and his own identity. For Antonio, the character interpreted by Banderas, the motive of desire is something immediately transformed into energy, while Pablo filters his desire through reflection. That is why until just before the end he doesn't discover that the object of his desire is there at his side. This is their personal tragedy."

Pedro Almodovar describes the work that Antonio did in this film as the best that they ever did together. "In La Ley del Deseo the emotional capacity of Antonio Banderas is fabulous, captivating. The animal side of Antonio was completely developed in this film."

Antonio says that this role was probably the most difficult he's ever done, partly because he had to struggle at first with his own discomfort about performing erotic homosexual scenes. "They were tough, very tough scenes to do ... and to tell the truth, there were times when I felt a little dirty. But that wasn't important at all, because that sensation of dirtiness was a moral sensation and morality doesn't go well with art." Antonio says, "I got over the physical part pretty quickly, although at first the thought did go through my mind, 'God, this is disgusting,' about one of the rawer scenes."

The film shocked many people. "Yes, it was a tough movie because for Spain it was something completely new. It touched on all the taboos -- homosexuality, drugs, and even people changing genders (Carmen Maura)," says Antonio.

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This is Antonio's third film with Almodovar and his second with Carmen Maura.

La Ley del Deseo earned Antonio his first stalker as a caller made threatening phone calls for months. Antonio admits that he was nervous and kept looking over his shoulder whenever he was out alone, but he never reported it to the police.

Antonio's mother, Ana, read the script before he made the film and she was so scandalized by the content that she called the theater where he was working and begged him not to do it. She still hasn't seen the film right through.

Many people assumed that Antonio was gay after seeing this film. They couldn't understand how a heterosexual actor could portray such a character. But Antonio's system of disconnecting with a character when the director shouted "Cut!" allowed him to do so. When he left the studio at the end of the day he left the role behind as well.
Antonio finds it difficult to understand why he can play a murderer on screen and nobody assumes that he has killed someone, but when it comes to sexuality it is a different matter. "I've done gay characters several times in my life and I tried to do it in the most honest way. People have said, 'What about box office? What about your image?'... you know, keep your image clean, in terms of morality, in front of society. But I am not afraid of that. I've never played a queen. I always played a guy who was comfortable with his problems, who reacts not so differently from a heterosexual guy. It's not such a big deal."

The film debuted in New York to acclaim for Pedro and Antonio. They were greeted with cheers and asked for their autographs. This was Antonio's second trip to the United States.

Antonio continued to work on stage while he filmed movies.