Banderas, the 60 years of Zorro between pain and glory

(ANSA) - ROME, AUGUST 09 - JosèAntonio Domínguez Bandera, known throughout the world as Antonio Banderas, turns 60 on 10 August. Born in Malaga, he left at the age of 19 with a diploma from the school of dramatic art in his pocket and disappointment due to a missed career as a footballer in the club due to a broken foot.
    Fate makes him meet an elder brother by choice, Pedro Almodovar: between the two the artistic correspondence is immediate and in 1982 they are together on the set of "Labirinto dipassioni". The collaborations with the director are for now seven (plus a cameo) and mark his career: he was in "Matador" and "The law of desire", he won international attention with "Women on the brink of a nervous breakdown "(1988) and after" Legami "the following year he left Europe for America thanks to the image that his pygmalion had sewn on him: a mix of testosterone, kindness, ironic strength and controlled histrionics. But in 2011 he returned from Almodovar ("La piel che habito") to rebuild a bond with his roots and eight years later - making himself "double" of his master in front of the camera - he first won the Palme d'Or with "Dolor y Gloria" in Cannes and then the Oscar nomination (a first in his palmarès).
    In the meantime he had become a promise and then a "safe value" of the Hollywood-style escapist cinema. He worked with the greats such as Jonathan Demme (the acclaimed "Philadephia" still in the role of a gay), Neil Jordan ("Interview with the vampire"), Alan Parker ("Evita"), De Palma ("Femme fatale"), even Woody Allen ("You will meet the man of your dreams"), has formed an iron friendship with Robert Rodriguez from "Desperado" to "Spy Kids", has gone through all genres (even with the nostalgia of having done more action than comedy), but it was with Martin Campbell's "The Mask of Zorro" (1998) that he became a real star. (HANDLE).