Antonio Banderas rules out retirement as he turns 65

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Madrid (AFP) — Spanish film star Antonio Banderas said in an interview published Sunday for his birthday that he has no plans to slow down now that he has reached 65.

“When I was 20, I thought that 65-year-olds walked with a cane,” said Banderas, known for roles in films such as “The Mask of Zorro”, “Desperado” and “Philadelphia”, in an interview with the Spanish daily El País.

“Back then, at 65 you retired. Not anymore — now it’s later.”

“Maybe I’m doing things I shouldn’t be doing,” added Banderas, who suffered a heart attack in 2017. “But the doctors don’t say anything to me. They say I’m fine, that I should do whatever I want.”

The actor said he has recently started music theory classes and bought himself a piano.

“I think I’d be one of those people who die if they stop. And I work at what I love; it’s been the luck of my life,” he said.

Banderas, who began acting in the 1980s, said he remains busy running the theatre he opened in 2019 in his hometown of Malaga, in southern Spain.

He spent part of the summer in Boston filming a biopic of legendary chef Anthony Bourdain, titled “Tony”, and then travelled to Spain’s Canary Islands to work on a thriller “Above and Below”.