Philadelphia, 1993

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Director: Jonathan Demme

Other Actors: Tom Hanks (Oscar winner for Best Actor), Denzel Washington

Philadelphia is a movie is about a homosexual lawyer (Tom Hanks) who has AIDS. In a small role Antonio portrays the lover of the lawyer. When the illness is discovered the lawyer is dismissed from his law firm and he hires another lawyer (Denzel Washington) to help him sue for wrongful dismissal. But, many gay men think that the director and producers were quite timid when it came to portraying a loving relationship between two men. A sexual scene between the two characters was left on the cutting room floor and they seemed more like roommates than lovers. Antonio says: "... I think we've made a pretty controversial movie about AIDS. It's not so open and brave as Law of Desire but it has scenes that will hurt a lot in the U.S."

Director Jonanthan Demme says: "In our culture to see two men kiss each other passionately is something of a shock. That is why I preferred to center on the discrimination that the character of Tom Hanks suffers, for being homosexual and as a person suffering from AIDS."

Despite this, many reporters marvelled at Antonio's courage to portray a homosexual man in a film (they obviously didn't see Law of Desire). "The American journalists asked me constantly how I had gotten ready to take the role of a homosexual and I always answered them the same: 'In no way because there is nothing to prepare.' Whenever I represent a homosexual I am playing a character not very different to myself, and I am not gay. When I take the role of a homosexual, I try to do it as honest as possible. I don't attempt to justify it and the public notes that I am not hiding anything."

Philadelphia script-writer, Ron Nyswaner, says of Antonio's small role: "The movie would have been better if Antonio Banderas was in it more. In fact, I believe that any movie would improve if Antonio was in it."

Demme sees Antonio's character as crucial to the story. "Everyone understood that the place where we were either going to win people over or lose them totally was with the relationship between Hank's character and his lover. If we wanted an audience to accept Tom Hanks as gay and root for him as a hero, then it was imperative that the audience also support and root for this relationship. We had to find someone who would be perceived as a wonderful boyfriend. Antonio was a godsend because his appeal cuts right across all sexual preferences, I think. And I think it's because he's so centered as a human being."

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Antonio and Tom Hanks became close friends while on the set of Philadelphia. Antonio was invited to dinners and barbeques at Hank's home. When Hanks won his Oscar he didn't forget his friend and acknowledged him from the podium. "I wasn't kidding what I said at the Oscars, if things were different for me, I'd go after Antonio like a shot, that he'd be the only person I'd leave my wife for. When the movie came out I got a kick knowing that I was the envy of ninety-five percent of the women in the world -- and I guess about seventeen percent of the men. Antonio would be an easy man for anyone to love."

Antonio's wife, Ana Leza, had a small, non-speaking role in this movie.