Salma Hayek Pinault Says ‘Puss in Boots’ Co-Star Antonio Banderas Is Her ‘Good Luck Charm’
Salma Hayek and Antonio Banderas return as Kitty Softpaws and the titular swashbuckling cat in Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. The actors have known each other for over 25 years and worked on several films together. Hayek recently spoke about her longtime friend and co-star. And looking back at her career, she called Banderas her “good luck charm.”
‘Puss in Boots: The Last Wish’ is Salma Hayek and Antonio Banderas’ 8th movie together
Salma Hayek and Antonio Banderas met on the set of her 1995 Hollywood debut, Desperado, and released another movie together — Four Rooms — the same year. The actors’ next collaboration was the 2002 Oscar-winning drama Frida. And a year later, they appeared in Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over and the Desperado sequel, Once Upon a Time in Mexico.
Banderas reprised his Shrek role as the sword-wielding feline for the 2011 spinoff, Puss in Boots. In the animated blockbuster, Hayek voiced Puss’ love interest, Kitty Softpaws.
The two worked alongside each other once again in the 2021 action comedy The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard. And in 2022, they reprise their voice roles as Puss and Kitty for Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.
The sequel takes place after the events of Puss in Boots and Shrek Forever After and follows Puss and Kitty as they embark on an epic journey to magical lands to restore the eight lives Puss has lost.
Salma Hayek calls ‘Puss in Boots’ co-star Antonio Banderas her ‘good luck charm’
While promoting Puss in Boots: The Last Wish on Today, Hayek and Banderas opened up about their 27-year friendship.
“Oh my God, it means so much to me,” Hayek shared. “Number one, I’m very proud of him.”
She revealed how their friendship remained strong despite both constantly traveling for work.
“You have to go through living all over the place because Antonio not only has never stopped working — never, ever, ever — but also moves around,” Hayek said. “And to stay friends like that for so long is great.”
Recalling how “hot” they were in Desperado, she suggested Banderas helped her career.
“When he comes to work, he’s my good luck charm,” Hayek explained. “He gave me my start.”
Banderas noted he was also a newbie when Desperado premiered and noted how both actors began their Hollywood careers around the same time.
“Well, we practically started together in the industry here in America,” he recalled. “We were coming from our own countries, so we met each other at the beginning of this road.”
Banderas reveals his most memorable moment working with Hayek
Over the past 27 years, the Puss in Boots: The Last Wish stars have likely racked up countless fun memories of their time together. Asked about which moment was the most memorable, Banderas recalled his first time meeting Hayek during her Desperado audition.
“The day I did the screen test with her, I was already in the movie Desperado, but she wasn’t, and I won’t say names, but there were very famous actresses that came to do that audition,” he said in a recent Hola! interview. “And I remember how nervous she was. I remember that I got a scene with her, and I was holding her, and she put her hand on my shoulder.
“She was shaking so hard,” Banderas added as he described that moment with Hayek. “That almost took me to tears — I could feel it in my shoulder. I remember that. That was a long time ago. She’s a very smart woman. Life gives us all cards, and with the cards that she received, she played the best game she could play.”
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish hits theaters nationwide on December 21.
