Brexit, Harvey Weinstein and health: Antonio Banderas and Penelope Cruz speak ahead of Pain and Glory premiere
Video report by ITV News Correspondent Lucy Watson
Antonio Banderas has admitted he isn’t sure if he will stay in England after Brexit.
In a wide-ranging interview ahead of the release of new film Pain and Glory, stars Penelope Cruz and Banderas joined director Pedro Almovodar to discuss the piece, Brexit, health, and allegations against Harvey Weinstein.
Speaking to ITV News, Banderas said he respects the Brexit referendum result but must wait to see what status he is given once the UK leaves the EU.
The Mask of Zorro star, who grew up in Franco’s Spain and now lives in Cobham, Surrey, said: "First of all I have to respect, clearly because I consider myself a democrat, I have to respect the decision of the British people."
He added: "Now, what is going to come out of this for people like me, for foreigners, what is the status that we are going to have in an England with Brexit?"
"I don't know. And I will have to take a decision if I just stay here or go depending on that."
The 58-year-old said the world is "suffering from the same sickness" when it comes to nationalism and said the "level of politicians is going down very rapidly" and this is "very worrying".
Reflecting on his own health, Banderas made the surprising admission that his 2017 heart attack was one of the best things to have happened to him.
"It opened my eyes to really identify the important things in my life," he said.
“A number of things, times, hours that I was spending in things that were not important – actually that disappeared when that event happened to me.”
He said the experience gave him “the essence” of acting back.
Meanwhile Penelope Cruz warned misogyny is a danger which stretches far beyond her industry in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations levelled against Harvey Weinstein.
Weinstein has strenuously denied the allegations.
Several women accused the director of sexual harassment, assault and rape since October 2017 and Cruz, who says some of those women are her friends, said she was “completely shocked”.
"We all knew he was very difficult in many ways but I never had that experience myself, but some of my friends did and I found out when all this came out," she said.
"This is not about the industry."
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Speaking about the position of women in society in general, the Oscar-winner continued: "We have to speak in the name of all the other women that don't have jobs, nobody is ever going to put a mic next to them and ask them if they live a fair situation in their work environment or even in their home.
"You know we have women dying every single day in their own country at the hands of their own husbands - so we have a lot to worry about.
"We cannot talk about this problem as if it's something only affecting our industry, I can't do that."
Cruz stars alongside Banderas in the semi-autobiographical drama by long-time collaborator Pedro Almodovar, the director behind Volver and Julieta.
Banderas plays Salvador Mallo, a film director in decline who, through a series of re-encounters, comes face to face with his past.
Cruz, who starred in Almodovar's acclaimed Volver, plays his mother.