Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek talk Puss in Boots

Chicago got a burst of star power in the past 24 hours as actors Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek arrived in town for a red-carpet premiere of DreamWorks Animation’s new family film, Puss in Boots—a spinoff of the über-popular Shrek franchise. In this entertaining action comedy, which happily avoids the pop-culture references and rock soundtrack that date the Shrek films, Banderas reprises his popular role as the swashbuckling cat with over-sized boots, while Hayek lends her voice to a fellow feline thief, Kitty Softpaws.

Although it doesn’t open wide until November 4, Puss screened twice last night in the South Loop, at the Showplace Icon at Roosevelt Collection. This morning, I sat down with the pair talk about the new film. Both actors are parents — Banderas has a 15-year-old daughter, while Hayek’s daughter just turned four. Because Hayek brought her daughter, she asked me at the start of the interview how she should spend her time while mom is busy talking to the press (and taping an appearance at Harpo Studios for Rosie O’Donnell’s new TV show). I recommended the nifty Dr. Seuss exhibit, “There’s Fun to be Done!”, at the Museum of Science and Industry, and Hayek’s face lit up. “Oh! She has to go because she loves Dr. Seuss! She has to go right now,” she exclaimed, then quickly texted her daughter’s sitter while Banderas and I began the interview.

Web Behrens: You said at the Chicago premiere last night that Puss in Boots was two-and-a-half years in the making. When did you actually record your dialogue?

Antonio Banderas: During all this time. You don’t do it in one session. I have done probably 14, 15 sessions for Puss in Boots. The script at the beginning is just an excuse to start working. It changes as you work: You give ideas; the creative team brings ideas. It’s a brainstorm creation. It’s like an amoeba that moves and changes shape.

WB: The standard for voice talent is to record separately, but Puss and Kitty have so much screen time as a pair. Did you ever record your lines together? 

AB: Normally we work separately, but this particular time I did something I never did on Shrek. I asked [CEO] Jeffrey Katzenberg to give me a session with her Salma. If you’re going to improvise, you have to have the other person in front of you. Some of that material actually was used in the movie.

WB: Where did that recording session happen?

Salma Hayek: In L.A. Which really was a lot of problem, trying to find us in the same city.

WB: You both have histories singing in some of your past films—and Antonio, you’ve been nominated for a Tony for a musical. Was there ever any plan to have you sing in Puss in Boots?

AB: I sang in every other Shrek movie, but in this one, no. They didn’t talk to me about that. It’s all about dancing.
SH: [looks leery]

WB: You look uneasy. Would that have been a bad idea?

SH: No, no, I wouldn’t want to! I cannot sing like he can, so I’m very happy they didn’t ask me. It was not the type of movie they wanted to make.

WB: How does being a parent affect your desire to work on family-friendly entertainment?

SH: I love family films. Of course, as a mother who has to watch so many movies, you really appreciate it when somebody makes a film that is for everybody—family entertainment that’s really for the family, where everyone has a good time.
AB: It’s true that I find something beautiful to be in a movie theater for a film you’ve done and hear kids cheering. But it’s not a priority—my priority was to work in territory I haven’t explored. That happened the first time [in this genre] with Spy Kids with my friend, [director] Robert Rodriguez. And then Shrek was totally different.

WB: Ten years ago, Shrek made a huge cultural splash. A critical and commercial smash, it ultimately won the very first Oscar for best animated feature. Since then, Pixar has dominated that category, winning a full 80 percent of the time. Is Puss in Boots the film that will take back the golden trophy for DreamWorks—and does that even matter to you?

SH: I haven’t thought about that, but my god, it would be great.
AB: I really don’t— [pause] I don’t believe in awards. There’s such an amount of things behind them, that they’re not attached at all to the work you do. It’s about relationships, politics. A long, long time ago, I stopped believing in those things. But if it comes, we’ll have a party.
SH: Well I think it would be great! [Everyone laughs.] A movie that is about animals, but it’s also about a Hispanic world that comes from a French legend—if that gets an award, I think it would be fabulous.