Paddington, the beloved British bear who favors marmalade sandwiches and had conversations with the late Queen Elizabeth II, will star in his third live-action movie installment, Paddington in Peru, which will be exclusively in US theaters on February 14.
The Parent Watch had the privilege of speaking with one of the Paddington in Peru stars, Antonio Banderas. You might have heard his voice in the Dreamworks Shrek franchise as the sword-slashing, tabby Puss In Boots or starring as the masked hero, Zorro, in the live-action1998 production The Mask of Zorro. Banderas was also vital to the Spy Kids franchise in the 2000s.
In Paddington in Peru, Banderas portrays Hunter Cabot, a man driven by greed and hauntings who is trying to find gold in El Dorado, a region of the Peruvian Amazon. Hunter meets Paddington Bear, who is on a quest with his adopted British family to find his beloved Aunt Lucy. Along the journey, both discover personal values that are more precious than gold.
Yet, here is what we discovered about Banderas working on Paddington in Peru and his hope for families when watching with their little bears.
Antonio Banderas shares his insight on being part of Paddington in Peru
It's a pleasure to be speaking with you, Antonio. Let's talk about Paddington in Peru! What made you decide to become a part of this beloved franchise?
Antonio Banderas: Well, what made me just to get into this franchise is the story itself. When I received this this script, I thought it was, interesting. I got the possibility not only just to play a character, that actually is a character that is struggling with himself. And so, he's got kind of two faces, and you can navigate between those two faces in an interesting way.
At the same at the same time, he's kind of possessed, if you can use the word, to describe him. Possessed by his own ancestors with one specific objective, which is just to get to the gold, and you can get to the Dorado. In the environment of a movie that is very well-designed, in which Paddington [in Peru], is ideologically [Paddington] is commanding the voluntary operation because it's a character a very well-created. He's a very kind, reasonable, coherent character who is driving the story to a place that is extraordinary for kids from all around the world. And it's a guy that is getting more and more loved by, not only kids, but parents, in a world that is actually, and unfortunately very violent. So it's beautiful to be in a movie like this.
That's wonderful. You portray Hunter Cabot, who was quite the charmer when we first met him. He's soon revealed to be obsessively driven by greed and his ancestors' hauntings in finding the lost gold in Peru that it consumes him. How did you manage to craft Cabot's emotional responses to be realistic but safe for the younger audiences?
Banderas: I think, basically, to younger audiences through the figure of Paddington, is the one that canalizes all of those feelings. You can go with a character like Hunter Cabot that is, as I said before, possessed by those ancestors, in which you can see, all of them exercising an influence, a very negative influence over him. And that is the subject of te fight that he's having with himself and that he's having with his own daughter that actually is the one that is going define the character of the end.
I'm not going to spoil it, but something happened between father and daughter that is going to put him back in a position in which he should have been probably from the beginning of his life, but he's not. What was interesting for me, is just to have the possibility to play all of those ghosts myself. Probably the most important of those is Cabot, the first one, which is the Conquistador [or Conqueror], which is actually the second, you know, in terms of the quantity of the work, most important after, Hunter Cabot. You can see the fight completely.
[The Conquistador] is pushing him continuously just to go to a place that he cannot for moments, it seems that he cannot resist. But at the same time, he's the daughter. So in between these two characters, he's this struggling man. And that is very interesting because I think in the end, what is going to define the mind of the kids is this struggle between greed and love. And at the end, love is the one that wins, and that is important to know.
Your previous role was Puss In Boots from the ever-popular Shrek franchise. How would you compare Hunter to the feisty feline in some respect?
Banderas: I think they are difficult to compare because their characters are different. Puss In Boots is a very calm, kind, and reasonable, coherent character. He's got his own struggles too and he's a hero. Sometimes, he can have the touch of a villain. He's a character created for kids, but at the same time, he's created for the parents who are bringing the kids to the theater and he’s based on characters that I have done before like Zorro. So [he and Hunter] are different. And, you know, [Paddington] is more probably advisable for kids to a certain age, and Puss In Boots just goes out of those parameters.
What do you hope families will gain from watching Paddington in Peru and the other Paddington movies together?
Banderas: I think at the end, everything that we have been actually [discussed] in the interview. The possibility that the [audience] has to establish good and evil through the story. The possibility that one of the characters has to redeem himself [and a] possibility to actually go back to the right path, [that] life can give you that opportunity. So, you have all of those things in front of you.
Hunter has a daughter, with whom he has a fractured relationship and reconnects toward the movie's end. When did Hunter finally realize that the "treasure" he was searching for was right in front of his eyes the entire time?
Banderas: You know, I'm a father. So, I know what that treasure means. The biggest treasure probably that I have in my life is my own daughter. So, it was not very difficult for me just to understand that. I could put that in my character [Hunter] because sometimes you just play with your own experiences in life. But, yeah, that is the realization for him just to see that his daughter is the most important treasure, and he just realizes that at some point in the movie. And that is actually the final lesson that we develop in the movie for kids to watch.
Are you even more curious about Paddington in Peru? Check out the movie's synopsis below:
"Full of Paddington’s signature blend of wit, charm, and laugh-out-loud humor, Paddington in Peru finds the beloved, marmalade-loving bear lost in the jungle on an exciting, high-stakes adventure. When Paddington discovers his beloved Aunt Lucy has gone missing from the Home for Retired Bears, he and the Brown family head to the wilds of Peru to look for her, the only clue to her whereabouts a spot marked on an enigmatic map. Determined to solve the mystery, Paddington embarks on a thrilling quest through the rainforests of the Amazon to find his aunt…and may also uncover one of the world’s most legendary treasures."
Paddington in Peru additionally stars Hugh Bonneville as Henry Brown, Emily Mortimer as Mary Brown, Madeleine Harris as Judy Brown, Samuel Joslin as Jonathan Brown, Julie Walters as Mrs. Bird, and returning as the voice of Paddington Bear is Ben Whishaw.
Paddington in Peru will theatrically be released in the US on February 14.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.