It’s been a good while since Zorro was on the big screen. There are a few small screen versions in the works, one with Wilmer Valderrama. But the masked avenger hasn’t gotten the blockbuster treatment since 2005’s The Legend of Zorro. Speaking of, that one’s star, cape-loving Antonio Banderas, was recently asked if he wouldn’t mind handing the bullwhip to some younger star. Not only is he up for that, but he knows who should get it.
Banderas has been promoting the belated sequel Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, in which he revives his Zorro-inspired take on the Italian feline. During a chat with Comicbook.com, Zorro came up, and he was asked if he’d return to the role.
“If they called me to do Zorro, I would do what Anthony Hopkins did for me, which is to pass the torch,” Banderas replied.
But to whom would he pass the torch? Why not Tom Holland? “I did ‘Uncharted’ with him, and he’s so energetic and fun,” Banderas replied.
One minor quibble: Zorro is the secret identity of Don Diego de la Vega, of Spanish descent. In 1998’s The Mask of Zorro, de la Vega was played by Brit Anthony Hopkins, but at least he passed the baton to Banderas’ Alejandro Murrieta, who was either Mexican or Chilean. Holland, like Hopkins, is British. Having a Spaniard hand off a Latinx character to a Brit might not fly in today’s climate. Then again, Banderas is right: Holland is energetic and fun. Besides, it may make up for the aborted Django/Zorro movie Jerrod Carmichael was going to make with Quentin Tarantino.
(Via Comicbook.com)
