It is confirmed-Antonio Banderas will play Pablo Picasso in the upcoming biopic 33 Days.
The right man for the role: Antonio Banderas to star as Pablo Picasso.
The Spanish actor is going to portray the co-founder of the cubist movement in a movie directed by Carlos Saura. “33 dias” refers to the time Picasso spent working on his masterpiece “Guernica“ which captured his reaction to the destruction of Basque town of Guernica in 1937 by the Nazi Luftwaffe during the Spanish Civil War.
“Picasso is a character that has pursued me for a long time and I always rejected. He deserves a lot of respect because I am from Malaga, and I was born four blocks from where he was born ”-Antonio Banderas told El Pais Spanish newspaper.
It looks like that “Puss in Boots” star got the privilege to play Pablo Picasso at just the right time, as the handsome actor (51), is of a similar age to that of the artist (54) when he finished the painting. Picasso was mostly perceived as short and bold but, if you look at pictures of the master painter in the1930′s, Antonio Banderas suddenly seems like quite canny casting.
Pablo Picasso pictured in 1930's.
Guernica shows Spanish Symbols (and Picasso motifs)-the horse and the bull being torn apart by conflict. On the bottom left-hand corner a woman grieves over a dead child. To the right a man is consumed by a burning building. However the artist remained silent about the symbolism of his masterpiece.
The movie will also examine the relationship between Pablo Picasso and his French lover Dora Marr, who was with him at the time he made the work of art. 33 Days, starring Antonio Banderas, is slated to be shot in Paris and Guernica next summer.
