The title of Antonio Bandera’s new film is El Camino de los Ingleses which translated means The English Path. According to yahoo.com he is using the path that he took in English Hollywood to now help pay it forward to the next generation of actors from his home country of Spain. Here’s the news:
Antonio Banderas’ second turn as a director is a far cry from cinematic romps like “The Mask of Zorro,” “Spy Kids” or the other box-office hits which made him a household acting name.
Instead, he’s created a chronicle about the bewildering path to manhood in Spain. The Spanish language film tells the story of a group of teenage boys on the threshold of maturity, their loves and conflicts as they try to understand their transition to adults.
Banderas says the movie is an attempt to bring something more personal and risky to the big screen, but also to provide a springboard for a new generation of local actors in Malaga, his home city in southern Spain. Banderas said he did not expect anything more from the film besides the enjoyment he has already had from making a feature shot entirely in Andalusia.
“In a way I myself am the natural enemy of this film, the typical good-looking guy who’s done a lot of commercial cinema,” he said. “I’ve done it simply from my own curiosity regarding film-making. An exercise in honesty.”
Man he sounds like a nice guy. Sure he’s been in some crappy movies lately but doesn’t he sound like the kind of person that you would want to be neighbors with?
It is really nice to see a successful person giving back to the place that they have come from and trying to give a hand up to those still there, not through a hand out but with work that they can be proud of. He has certainly picked the right kind of genre for a successful movie, whether it is his intention or not, coming of age films are one type of movie that I never get sick of. Just this past year I saw two that blew me completely away, Whole New Thing and C.R.A.Z.Y., both fantastic surprises at the cinema.
It has been my experience that success follows those who are enjoying a creative process with good intention and inviting other people to do the same without being attached to the results.
But even if the above does have exceptions and Antonio’s movie fails miserably at least he can pull out a mask and wear it for a while because…he’s Zorro you know.
