Antonio Banderas knows who the real star is in his Super Bowl spot

(CNN) — Believe it or not, Antonio Banderas finds shooting commercials harder than filming movies.

“I’ve done a lot of commercials in my life, it’s a little bit more difficult to do a commercial than to do a movie because you are attached to a product, which is actually a star,” he told CNN in a recent interview. “The star should be the product, not you…and so you have to actually know how to sell.”

The “Babygirl” actor is attempting to do some selling in German company Bosch’s first ever Super Bowl ad.

The company, which sells a range of appliances in addition to other products, paired Banderas with an actor portraying the late wrestler Randy “The Macho Man” Savage for a bit of fun.

Banderas said the project marks his first Super Bowl spot tied to a product. His past his Super Bowl ads were trailers for films like his 1998 hit, “The Mask of Zorro.”

“It was at that time that I learned the importance of that moment for commercials,” he said. “I think it was [Steven] Spielberg himself [who was one of the ‘Zorro’ producers] saying that it was like the Oscars of the commercials.”

The star said he had great fun filming the new ad as improvisation was welcomed (“I ended up even barking at some point”), adding that the role impressed a special someone in his life.

His girlfriend, model Nicole Kimpel, is German and her father is a German engineer, so Banderas said she expressed approval of his working with Bosch.

For the “Paddington in Peru” actor, commercials also help him earn money he directs to support his theater in Spain, which is a passion of his.

“I don’t put any of the money in my pocket. I just dedicate the money to the place to have a team of 23 people right now that are the fixed team that is working in the theater and to just hire actors and musicians and everything that I need in order just to have my project,” he said.

In a world grappling with darkness and uncertainty, Banderas said he sees theaters and art bringing people together.

“You can have many opinions, but there is one truth that is objective, which is, I am here as a human being, and you are there as an audience and there is nothing in the middle,” he said. “It’s almost a sanctuary for the truth. That simple truth of human beings talking to another group of human beings.”

The-CNN-Wire
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