Megastar Tom Cruise turned down a deal to star in The Mask of Zorro, blazing a trail for the proceeding surge of Antonio Banderas.
With The Mask of Zorro, Antonio Banderas really noted himself as a real celebrity and sex object around the world. While he made honor for his partnerships with Pedro Almodóvar in Spain and made his existence understood in the States with Philly and Meeting with the Vampire, The Mask of Zorro was his very first leading function to near $100 million at the residential ticket office. Yet the famous swordsman practically had an additional guy behind the mask: Tom Cruise.
According to The Mask of Zorro‘s original director Mikael Salomon, executive producer Steven Spielberg wanted Tom Cruise to star. “Who else was [in the mix]? Some big — oh yeah, Tom Cruise. Early on, [Spielberg] wanted to offer it to him. Have you heard that? He wanted to offer it to Tom Cruise. And my friend and countryman Bille August had done The House of the Spirits with all non-Latinos, and he got in so much hot water because of that, and they picketed the movie in South America. And I said to Steven, ‘You know, that’ s most likely not an excellent concept, simply for that factor.'” Cruise would certainly wind up calling Salomon straight to transform down the deal since of whitewashing concerns, informing his potential supervisor, “Thanks for the offer, but I think it’s not a great idea for me to do this movie because, as you know…” (For referral, The Residence of the Spirits was commonly panned for casting the sort of Meryl Streep, Jeremy Irons, Glenn Close, and Winona Ryder as Chileans.)
Rather, the lead in The Mask of Zorro would certainly most likely to Cruise’s Meeting with the Vampire co-star Antonio Banderas– that likewise showed up in The Residence of the Spirits– although he would certainly be guided by Martin Campbell when Salomon left. There were various other spreading modifications too, as Salomon when had Sean Connery affixed to Diego de la Vega, the function that at some point mosted likely to Anthony Hopkins. Andy Garcia was also in talk with play the lead.
Yet with The Mask of Zorro, Antonio Banderas would certainly come to be as associated with the personality as Douglas Fairbanks– that brought the personality to the cinema with 1920’s The Mark of Zorro (keep in mind the punctuation)– and Tyrone Power, that starred in the audio remake twenty years later on. There have actually been lots of various other variations too, although sadly a current effort by Robert Rodriguez to spearhead a female-starring Zorro collection was reduced. Nonetheless, a Wilmer Valderrama-led take is evidently still moving on for Disney+.
What location do The Mark of Zorro and its follow up, The Tale of Zorro, have in Antonio Banderas’ occupation? Are you a follower of his representation? Allow us recognize!
