Antonio Banderas is being praised by his co-stars on one of his latest film.
The Oscar and Golden Globe nominee plays the villain in Paddington in Peru but in real life he couldn’t have been nicer, according to Hugh Bonneville and Emily Mortimer.
Perhaps the highest thanks for his on-set persona comes from his young co-star Carla Tous.
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The 23-year-old stars as his daughter in the film and, despite growing up as a child star in Spain, she was a little nervous as this movie marked her first big English film.
“I think he was so conscious about how big this was for me, and it was my first time filming outside Spain in English,” Tous tells 9honey Celebrity.
“So he, especially for the first week or two weeks, he had this lovely moment with me where he would sit down and he would be like, ‘You got this, you’re here, you’re working hard, just be calm’ and he was just a gift to have around.
“And also having someone to speak to in Spanish was lovely, and it made things much more easier.”
The family vibe extended beyond Banderas and Tous, with Bonneville saying the stars all felt like one big family during filming.
READ MORE: Emily Mortimer reveals why she had imposter syndrome on the set of new movie
“The mighty Antonio Banderas, who is a proper team player, and one of us and we became quite a nice little family and went on outings or we had an outing, and even some South American food, I seem to remember,” Bonneville tells 9honey Celebrity.
Bonneville returns for the third Paddington film as Mr Brown, with Mortimer starring as his wife on-screen, Mrs Brown.
”Part of the reason why Antonio is so fabulous in real life, is because he doesn’t -unlike Paddington – he doesn’t have any airs or graces,” Mortimer tells 9honey Celebrity.
“He doesn’t sort of play [up to] his movie star status at all. He is, as Hugh said, he’s one of the team, and he’s from the theatre, and so really it felt very much like we were all in it together.
“He’s so committed as an actor, it’s amazing watching him do it because he really was all in.”
Producer Rosie Alison tells 9honey Celebrity that having the Puss in Boots star join the film franchise was a dream come true.
“I felt so honoured that he joined our film because, of course, he’s a legend and he’s a veteran of all these family films, Spy Kids and Zorro,” she says.
“And if you want a dashing river boat captain with Spanish heritage whose ancestors are Conquistador, you’d be very lucky if you managed to persuade Antonio Banderas.
“So it was a very happy day when we learned that he was interested and that the bear drew him in. He loved Paddington’s character, and I think that’s what drew him in.”
The 64-year-old’s character, Hunter Cabot, has a range of tattoos he shows the Brown family during their riverboat adventure in Paddington’s home country of Peru.
There’s one scene where Cabot lifts his shirt to show a tattoo-fail across his abdomen, which everyone reacts to in horror.
Mortimer reveals to 9honey Celebrity a secret from filming that scene.
“It was making me laugh, I was thinking about that the other day – what we were each imagining – because he didn’t actually have a tattoo on his stomach,” she says.
“So we each had to imagine something really sort of insane that would give us the sort of [expression]. I was just thinking it’d be funny to see everybody’s thoughts, [what] we were all thinking he was showing us.”
Both Bonneville, 61, and Mortimer, 53, say they’ve escaped having any tattoo fails of their own because neither have had any ink.
“I think we’re a very rare breed, most people have a tattoo at this point,” Mortimer tells 9honey Celebrity.
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A-listers turn heads as they cosy up on the red carpet
A member of the cast who can relate a bit more is their on-screen daughter Madeleine Harris, who plays Judy Brown.
“I’ve got quite a few [tattoos] but I don’t regret any of mine,” Harris tells 9honey Celebrity.
“There’s some I wish I’d thought about a little bit more. However, in my head, they’re all sort of memories, and timestamps of/through my life.
“So, I think I’ll reach an age where I’ll be all wrinkly, but it will be memories. It’s like being a big scrapbook of random all sorts.”
Paddington in Peru is out in cinemas across Australia on New Year’s Day.
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