Alejandro ‘Zorro’ Murrieta & Elena Montero
THE MASK OF ZORRO (1998)
When The Mask of Zorro hit cinemas, it was out on its own. The swashbuckling character made famous by Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in a 1920 silent movie had long fallen out of favour, with the last portrayal by George Hamilton in the 1981 pastiche Zorro, The Gay Blade. So when Antonio Banderas, then hot off Desperado, swung into action, he cut a very dashing figure.
Still, every hero needs a heroine, and Elena, elegantly played by Catherine Zeta-Jones, is more than a match for the masked swordsman. “It’s the old story of the rough diamond meets upper-class aristocracy,” says director Martin Campbell, who arrived on the project – his first movie since 1995’s GoldenEye – after Robert Rodriguez ducked out.
Zeta-Jones was then known for British comedy-drama The Darling Buds Of May, but it was Zorro’s executive producer Steven Spielberg who saw her in the mini-series Titanic and urged Campbell to cast her. After she screentested with Banderas, who’d been attached since Rodriguez was involved, the sparks flew. “They worked well together. They liked each other. And it just sort of happened,” shrugs Campbell. “We got lucky.”
While the story sees Banderas’ thief Alejandro tutored by Elena’s father, Anthony Hopkins’ Don Diego de la Vega – the original Zorro – the real juice comes from the coupling between the two leads. From dancing and flirting in public to sparring in a saucy swordfight that sees them duel, kiss and even shed garments, they steamed and sizzled their way to becoming one of the great screen couples of the ’90s. “They were terrific, I have to say,” adds Campbell. “They worked it.”
Never more so than in that swordfight, which bristles with PG-rated foreplay – not least when Banderas’ Zorro swishes his rapier and entirely cuts Elena’s blouse off, leaving her very red-faced. “That kind of sense of humour, that kind of personality, played so much into their parts,” says Campbell, who delighted in watching Zeta-Jones blossom. “She’s ballsy as hell! Jesus! If you know Catherine, nothing fazes her. She took it all very seriously.”
Grossing $250m worldwide, Zorro became a touchstone film for both actors, cementing Banderas as a Hollywood heartthrob and Zeta-Jones as the versatile leading lady. “It made Catherine’s career, which was terrific, and Antonio’s in America, so that was pleasing,” says Campbell. “And to be honest, I think it probably turned out much better than people – certainly at the studio – expected.”
Ironically, it even led to real love. With the film playing at the Deauville Film Festival in France in August 1998, it was here where Zeta-Jones first encountered her future husband Michael Douglas. “That was a romance that’s lasted a long time,” smiles Campbell. If it hadn’t been for Zorro, one of Hollywood’s great love stories may never have been told. JM
MEET-CUTE At the stables: she’s on horseback, he’s behind the mask. BEST BANTZ
Elena: “I may scream.”
Zorro: “I understand – sometimes I have that effect.”
FURTHER ADVENTURES They came back in 2005’s The Legend Of Zorro for more sexy swordplay.