Steven Spielberg Warned Antonio Banderas That 1998’s ‘Mask of Zorro’ Would Be ‘One of the Last’ Non-CGI Westerns
Spielberg's Amblin Pictures produced the 1998 film, which featured solely practical effects.
Steven Spielberg saw the CGI writing on the wall back in 1998.
The Amblin Entertainment producer, who financed that year’s “The Mask of Zorro,” told lead star Antonio Banderas on set that the age of practical effects was dwindling.
“Steven Spielberg said to me once when we were shooting, ‘This is probably going to be one of the last Westerns shot in the way the Westerns were shot in the old days, with real scenes with real horses, where everything is real, [real] sword fighting, no CGI,'” Banderas told Yahoo! Entertainment during a 25th-anniversary appreciation of the film. “Everything was [practical].”
Banderas added, “And he said, ‘But things are going to change. They’re going to change and they’re going to change fast. And so you should be proud of this movie.’ And I am, probably even more now than at the time that I was doing it.”
The “Pain and Glory” alum added, “I don’t know if I was absolutely conscious when I was doing ‘Zorro’ that it was going to have an impact. The impact that it’s had, and especially after 25 years… It was a very beautiful adventure movie with a lot of ingredients that made it shine in a very beautiful way. I have nothing but good memories.”
“The Mask of Zorro” helped skyrocket Banderas’ career stateside. The actor reflected on his career as a whole leading up to the adventure film that co-starred Catherine Zeta-Jones.
“It was very significant because my career up to that point was [mostly] European movies, especially all the work that I did with Pedro Almódovar,” Banderas said. “And suddenly I got into a completely different universe, a universe of action, a universe of international movies that went all around the world. It was unbelievable…It was such a huge success.”
Banderas and Zeta-Jones reunited for the 2005 sequel “The Legend of Zorro.” Banderas also teased that he would be open to revisiting the franchise for a third film.
“Obviously if I do another movie now, I would play the [mentor] character that Anthony Hopkins did in the first version,” Banderas said. “I [would] be the character that passes the torch to the new Zorro, which would be great, just to do so. But you know, if it comes, great. If it doesn’t, you know, the other two are there forever.”