Late-night host Stephen Colbert joked with his guest Antonio Banderas recently that the Spanish actor’s latest movie, The 33, was Magic Mike set in a mine.
“Well, we were half-naked the whole movie,” Banderas said with a hearty laugh at a North Hollywood production facility. “But it was no fun. It was cold, and we had to fake it was hot.”
Based on Hector Tobar’s bookDeep Down Dark and directed by Patricia Riggen, The 33 chronicles real-life events five years ago when 33 miners were trapped inside the San Jose Mine in Chile for more than two months as the world hoped and prayed the men would be rescued.
Sixty-nine days later, some 1 billion people watched as the men emerged one by one from the mine into the arms of their families, who had camped outside the facility. Still, the mining company escaped charges of negligence and the miners were never compensated.
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Banderas, youthful and fit at 55, plays Mario Sepulveda, nicknamed “Super Mario,” who was the public face of the miners and sent video reports to let their families and the world know how they were doing.
Banderas and Sepulveda became friends during the production.
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“Mario is bigger than life,” says Banderas, a real charmer with an infectious purr to his voice that will be familiar to fans of his animated film Puss in Boots. “If I was portraying Mario as he actually is, I would be killed by the critics. He is an enormous character. He speaks very loud. He’s a charismatic personalty. He learned to survive very early in his life. His mother died giving birth to him. He had 22 brothers. He always had to struggle and fight.”
The real Mario Sepulveda celebrates after being rescued at the San Jose Mine in 2010. Photo: Reuters
