Antonio Banderas Reveals the Pain and Glory Scene That Overwhelmed Director Pedro Almodóvar
Antonio Banderas‘ Oscar-nominated role in Pain and Glory was an emotional one for director Pedro Almodóvar.
The actor, 59, stars in the movie as a film director who finds himself reflecting on the choices he’s made in his life as his past and present collide, which mirrors Almodóvar’s own life.
Banderas tells PEOPLE that the famed director was so attached to the main character that he would get emotional reading lines on set.
“When we were shooting, the information that I received from Pedro was more emotional than I thought he was going to say to me,” Banderas admits. “There was a scene in which I have to confess something to my mother in the balcony, and Pedro usually comes to the set and he says the lines of the actors and puts the last indications before we start shooting.”
After Almódovar read Banderas’ mothers’ lines, he had trouble continuing the scene.
“He was going to read mine and he couldn’t. He just couldn’t say those lines, it was so emotional for him that he tried and he couldn’t,” Banderas adds.
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Banderas also recently opened up to PEOPLE on how his heart attack in 2017 influenced his performance.
“It changed me in certain ways. Yeah, and Pedro detected that. He saw it and said, ‘Don’t hide this thing that you have now after your cardiac problem, don’t hide it. I think the character can use that because the character is filled with pain and a lot of diseases and solitude and loneliness,’” Banderas said.
The Spanish actor said he “knew exactly what he was talking about,” explaining, “Because after you have a heart attack you receive an amount of information about what life is about that is very difficult to describe in words. It just set up a new way of understanding life itself.”
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As for what he learned from the experience, Banderas said he distanced himself from things that held no value to him.
“You become more raw. You eliminate things that you think were important in your life and you erase them from your life,” he said. “Money, for example. You realize money is just an intellectual process. The things that are really important they pop up in a really interesting way.”
Banderas suffered a heart attack on January 2017 after experiencing chest pains while working out.
The 92nd Annual Academy Awards will air live from the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on Feb. 9 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
