Banderas: no forgiveness

In recent interviews in which he talked about his early career under Pedro Almodovar, Antonio Banderas discussed what it's like for a straight man to play gay onscreen.

Long before his arrival in Hollywood, the Spanish heartthrob learned his craft working for Almodovar, at a time when the latter was busy shocking his country – after 4 decades of repression under Franco – with hot and gory scenes.

In reference to this period, when minds were less open than today, and especially to his role as a gay man in «La ley del deseo», Antonio Banderas arrived at the following conclusion: «The public will forgive you if you kill a man, but not if you kiss him.»

The actor did stress that 20 years down the road, things have changed considerably and that during the 80's, many actors hesitated playing gay onscreen for fear of being thought of as homosexual and risking their careers.