Antonio Banderas' existentialism in Puss In Boots: The Last Wish was fueled by his heart attack and COVID-19
Antonio Banderas says The Last Wish brought him closer to Puss In Boots as a character
In Puss In Boots: The Last Wish, the newest installment in the Shrek universe, the feline hero faces death head-on. The adventurer—who we’ve seen across five films—risks running out of his nine lives. Puss (Antonio Banderas) then has to choose between retiring to the life of a house cat, or chasing down the Wishing Star to renew his lives.
It’s an existential animated children’s film that grapples with death and what it means to create a life worth living. Banderas says he was initially surprised by the storytelling direction, but found it one that was suited to his personal experience, as well as the greater audience, who has just spent years dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Without being explicit, there certainly is a halo of current world situations, with the whole COVID topic, for example, and things that happened in my personal life like my heart attack, that sort of snuck into the character in a way,” Banderas tells /Film. “I don’t know whether it was intentional or just by chance. So then I was surprised when I read the script and saw the story growing in the direction it went.”