The actor Antonio Banderas would do anything to work with again: “I will go to hell if it’s necessary”
A movie about the life of the original rock and roll chef, Anthony Bourdain, was always going to be one that attracted plenty of interest, and now we’ve had a trailer featuring the man with the same initials as the late, sweary cook himself, Antonio Banderas.
In fact, he shares a Spanish version of the same first name as Bourdain, so maybe it made total sense for A24 to put him in the movie Tony, which hits cinemas in August. Banderas plays the chef who first introduces Bourdain to the culinary world as a youngster in the mid-1970s, and from the trailer alone, you can see him troubling the awards ceremonies come 2027.
Tony is one of six movies Banderas has currently in stages of production, and he certainly isn’t slowing down as he hits his mid-60s, already having picked up an Oscar nomination and five Golden Globe nods over a career that’s spanned more than 120 films and counting. Some of that longevity is down to the fact that Banderas can do movies in seemingly any genre, from horror to drama to musicals to kids’ films to steamy thrillers, and in 2024, he added a controversial movie to his CV in the form of Babygirl with Nicole Kidman.
Another A24 movie, Babygirl was the erotic movie that saw Kidman’s high-powered CEO having an affair with a much younger man, and caused quite a kerfuffle on release due to some of the scenes on show, especially those that featured the Aussie actor drinking milk from a plate while Harris Dickinson looked on.
Banderas played Kidman’s husband in the movie and shared a couple of sexy moments with her, although nothing quite as out there as pretending to be a cat. He was more than happy with the experience, nonetheless, telling Parade about his feelings regarding Kidman, “It was comfortable because she is an amazing professional. I gotta tell you, this is one of my favourite actresses of all time. Seriously, I got a huge deal of respect and admiration for her… Everyday working with her, the kindness, the professionality. Great human being. Great actress. It was fabulous.”
Now he may well be stating the obvious here, because let’s face it, there probably aren’t that many men on the planet who would say ‘Nah, you’re alright, thanks’ when faced with the prospect of spending a day on set with a partially clothed Nicole Kidman, and perhaps that’s what inspires Banderas to pledge fairly drastic measures in order to do it again.
He added, “I will do anything with Nicole and [Babygirl director] Halina. I will go to hell if it’s necessary, because I totally believe in the work”.
Babygirl ended up being a pretty big success on release, bringing in $65million on a budget of $24m, and Kidman won several industry awards for her performance. The director Halina Reijn has expressed an interest in continuing the story, but there are no concrete plans for a sequel as yet.
Probably the most intriguing of Banderas’ upcoming projects, meanwhile, is Rose’s Baby, a romantic comedy which co-stars Richard E Grant and Forest Whitaker, which is written by Sting’s wife Trudie Styler. It’s likely to hit cinemas late this year or possibly early in 2027 and tells the story of a couple who must have another daughter in order to save the life of their first child.
