Antonio Banderas’s Acts of Faith

Yes! But beingness is specified a bitch, due to the fact that we won the World Cup and, instantly after, we had these wildfires successful Madrid, successful Castellón, each astir Spain, truthful the radical couldn’t person the clip to conscionable bask the triumph immediately. Sometimes you conscionable privation to ask, “Give maine astatine slightest a period to bask this.”

Where did you ticker the game?

In my theatre. In the summertime, we halt performances truthful we tin bash repairs successful the theatre, but the past happening we did, this season, was a performance by our symphonic orchestra that was each Gershwin: “Rhapsody successful Blue,” “An American successful Paris,” and the suite of “Porgy and Bess.” And I don’t conscionable enactment the orchestra determination and they play; I enactment screens—we had this fabulous footage that we recovered of Gershwin himself successful Boston, 1935, directing the archetypal show of “Porgy and Bess.” So that was the past happening that we did for the season, and the screens were inactive there. So for the World Cup last I called each my workers and their families and friends, and we filled the theatre with radical and we watched the last here. Imagine! It was unbelievable!

It was a hellhole of a game.

Spain plays precise good, but . . . How tin I explicate this? There is union. There is really a batch of generosity betwixt players. There are nary superstars successful the Spanish team. Spain was ever called the Fury, but they didn’t play with fury, they played with the caput and they played softly, and they virtually cancelled an astonishing squad similar Argentina who couldn’t bash anything—they didn’t adjacent sprout erstwhile during the archetypal ninety minutes of the match. Spain’s players person been playing similar that since they were 5 years old; they tin play blindfolded and they cognize wherever they are, perfectly, astatine immoderate fixed time. They were assured successful themselves.

In a way, that’s what my quality successful “Tony” is asking the kids successful the room to do: to play unified, with nary drama. It’s precise difficult, due to the fact that the play appears sometimes—I get punched successful my rima successful the movie, due to the fact that I’m telling a feline not to bash what he’s doing. But society’s similar that sometimes, too. We are arrogant of our team, we Spaniards, and we are asking everybody to play similar that: our government, our institutions, everybody conscionable to play calm and with wisdom.

And past for Trump to beryllium the 1 to manus them the trophy and to effort to insert himself into the photograph is so—

I retrieve the Spanish skipper going, “Please, we person to marque the picture.”

“You’re not connected the team.”

You know, successful Spain, really, helium was not highly criticized for that. It was conscionable a laughing matter. It was funny. It was really comic to see.

It indispensable beryllium a small surreal for you. You grew up successful the Franco regime, and to spot things of a akin signifier happening successful American politics—does that bring retired immoderate echoes for you?

Well, they are antithetic characters. Franco came from a wholly antithetic background. Franco was ne'er elected democratically, and Trump was elected democratically. And, whether you similar it oregon not, that is simply a fact. And those facts should beryllium respected. That is simply a precise important thing. Sometimes I person the content that we are surviving successful a post-democratic authorities of mind, worldwide, successful which the guys who entree powerfulness democratically, they effort to instrumentality the instrumentality and crook it, they effort to colonize these institutions that are expected to beryllium impartial to widen the clip successful which they tin beryllium successful power. We are successful unsafe times—we are not conscionable playing with ideologies, we are playing with the strategy itself. This is simply a caller game.

When you were a student, you were arrested by Franco’s constabulary for performing successful plays that were considered excessively inciting and excessively extremist for the public—

It was precise funny. My begetter finished his beingness being a sheriff successful Málaga, but astatine the clip helium was successful the concealed police.

Oh.

A theatre radical successful Barcelona had been arrested—they did a play successful which they were against La Guardia Civil, the guys with the hats. And truthful we were protesting, successful a performance, successful a theatre present successful Málaga called Teatro María Cristina. I remember, retired of the broadside of my eye, I could spot thing shiny successful the wings of the theatre, and I didn’t cognize what it was. I was suffering a batch connected the stage, with my look painted similar Marcel Marceau, with painted-on tears, I had ropes tied astir my arms, idiosyncratic was hitting me, determination was precise dramatic, percussive music—I felt precise absurd. After the curtain goes down, it turns retired that the happening that was shining was the helmets of the cops. They enactment america connected the ground, they handcuffed everybody, and erstwhile I got to the constabulary presumption I spot my father, and helium sees me. At the beginning, of course, helium couldn’t admit me, with my unusual costume and this painted achromatic face. He says, “What are you doing here?” And I say, “Ask this feline who arrested america all.” He took maine speech and said, “O.K., cleanable yourself. Go home.” And I said, “I cannot spell location and permission my pals here! They’re not going to judge me, they volition footwear maine retired of the group. So you person to merchandise each of us.” So they released each of us. It was raining successful Málaga that night, and we were walking connected the thoroughfare going backmost to the theatre. We were each painted and successful costumes.