Antonio Banderas Inspired To Become Actor By ‘Peter Pan’

Antonio Banderas may be playing a pirate in The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, but the 54-year-old actor was inspired to act by Peter Pan rather than his archenemy, Captain Hook. Banderas revealed Peter Pan as the source of his inspiration at the Saturday premiere of Sponge Out of Water in New York City.

Antonio spoke with People Magazine at the premiere about his role as a pirate in the 3D SpongeBob film, which hits theaters on February 6. Banderas watched the Nickelodeon television show with his daughter Stella, who is now 18, while she was growing up. However, Peter Pan took over the conversation as Banderas opened up about what films he liked as a child.

“The first time I saw the Disney version [of ‘Peter Pan’], I was, I don’t know, 6 years old. I remember it produced an incredible impression in me. I dreamt about that character. I remember getting in bed and seeing myself flying over London.”

Antonio feels that Peter Pan must have been a reason that he became an actor.

“Maybe I’m an actor because of him. Just trying to fulfill that, to get what normal life cannot give you.”

However, Banderas is not upset that he had to play a pirate rather than the boy who never grew up in Sponge Out of Water.

“There is something in the mind of any actor to play a pirate at some point – they are really romantic characters, they are very free. They go where the wind takes them. And also with pirates, anything is possible.”

Watch the trailer for The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water below. The trailer heavily features Banderas, who plays the film’s villain.

In a recent conversation with Fox News Latino, Antonio chose to play a traditional version of a pirate for the movie, rather than one that was inspired by recent pirates such as Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean series. Antonio also opened up about the difficulties of being the only “flesh and blood” actor on the set.

“The other characters weren’t there. There were sticks with different-colored crosses and they were moving; the red one was SpongeBob, the green one was a friend… It was extremely tough to work like that.”

The children’s film is a change of pace for Banderas, who recently spoke about his divorce from his spouse of nearly 20 years, Melanie Griffith. Griffith filed for divorce in June 2014. Antonio though has bounced back and is currently dating a Dutch investment consultant, Nicole Kimpel.

[Photo Source: Fox News Latino]