The
Mambo Kings, 1992
Additional
Captures
Director:
Arne Glimcher
Other Actors:
Armand Assante, Maruschka Detmers
Already a
highly acclaimed actor in Europe, Antonio decided to test
the American market despite speaking only a few words of English.
Antonio auditioned for, and won the role of the younger brother,
Nestor, in The Mambo Kings over many English-speaking
actors. Director Arne Glimcher (who did not speak Spanish)
said of their unusual first interview, "Antonio just
knew instinctively when to laugh and how to seduce you. And
he can seduce every woman, man and dog on this planet."
So, Antonio -- ever
the risk taker -- left the security of his Madrid acting family
and headed to America. The audition was tough as Antonio could not
understand what he was saying or what anyone was saying to him.
But he got the part, over dozens of English-speaking actors.
Although Nestor's
introverted personality was in direct contrast to his own, Antonio
could relate to the experience of going to a new country, a new
language and a new culture. He did an eight-hour-a-day crash course
in English in New York with six different professors. He also studied
trumpet for three hours each day and visited the jazz clubs at night.
Somehow he found the time to work in mambo lessons and generally
absorb the culture of America. He felt exhausted, as if "they
had sucked out my brain."
On the movie set
Antonio had an interpreter so he could understand the director.
He knew some English but he "learned the lines that I had to
say phonetically, as sounds, like when you sing a song you learn
the music."
Antonio brought life
to Nestor, a man who lived tormented (again!) by the past he left
in Cuba and the girl he loved -- Maria -- despite the fact that
he meets, marries and has a child with an American woman, Delores
(Detmers). He composes a love song to Maria called Beautiful
Maria of my Soul and it is a hit for The Mambo Kings. Antonio
sings a few bars of this song in the movie, but he sings the whole
song on the movie soundtrack. Robert Kraft, the movie's musical
director, was so impressed that he thought it strange that Antonio
was not a professional singer.
Premiere's
Marilyn Bathany had this to say about Antonio: "In The
Mambo Kings, he does things to a trumpet that had his fans
fervently wishing they were made of brass. In short, Banderas has
resurrected the Latin Lover from the trash heap of moldy cultural
icons and given it currency -- astonishing, considering the sexual
squeamishness of the times. But then, Banderas isn't just another
too-suave-by-half seduction artiste. Yes, he's seriously cute. But
he's also a protean actor who can make any character, no matter
how nuts, irresistible and any sex act, no matter how kinky, seem
as innocent as a puppyish romp."
Related Information
Antonio's joy at
landing a major role in an American film was tempered by a scheduling
conflict with another Almodovar film which he had agreed to make,
High Heels. Almodovar wasn't happy at first with his
star actor but realized that Antonio could not pass up this opportunity
and they agreed to work together again in the future. Almodovar
presented Antonio with a picture of the two of them taken in New
York and signed it "The mambo kings also play songs of sad
love."
Emanual Nunez is
now Antonio's American agent.
Antonio meets Betty
Kaplan (whom he first met in 1986) and she proposes that he appear
in her film version of Of Love and Shadows.
Antonio's mother
(and many of his friends and colleagues) thinks her son is crazy
to give up his impressive career in Europe to start all over again
in the United States.
Antonio's mother
(a retired teacher) noticed strange things happening with
her son. "There was a moment that I even forgot my Spanish,"
says Antonio. "What I was doing was saying the phrases
reversed and I put the verbs where they didn't go."
|
