If cats have nine lives, then Puss in Boots is entering his second incarnation. The feline swashbuckler who first flashed those moist kitty eyes in 2004's Shrek 2stars in his own computer-animated adventure this fall.
DreamWorks Animation LLC
Salma Hayak provides the voice of Kitty Softpaws, who steals the heart and soles of Puss in Boots.
DreamWorks Animation LLC
Salma Hayak provides the voice of Kitty Softpaws, who steals the heart and soles of Puss in Boots.
Although ogre pal Shrek bid adios last year with a fourth and final outing, DreamWorks is hoping the big-booted buccaneer, whose Latin-lover panache is again provided by Antonio Banderas, can expand upon the original franchise that has grossed $3 billion worldwide. To get the word out, there will be a special Puss in Boots presentation at Cannes during the film festival next week.
"It's a good sign," Banderas says of studio chief Jeffrey Katzenberg's decision to do a sneak peek. The actor already will be there promoting Pedro Almodo´var's The Skin That IInhabit, about a plastic surgeon who avenges his daughter's rape.
It was at Shrek 2's premiere at Cannes that the idea of promoting Puss to a lead role was born, he recalls. "It was a couple of days before the film opened, and Jeffrey spoke to me of the possibility of doing a spinoff of the character, who is mysterious, street-smart and funny in a strange way."
Banderas says the origin story will explore how the cat came to be hired as an assassin to kill Shrek before having a change of heart. "At the beginning, it is more of an homage to Sergio Leone spaghetti Westerns and takes place in present day. Then the film flashes back to an orphanage, where Puss in Boots starts a relationship with an ... egg," Banderas says, laughing. And not just an egg, but a bad egg: Humpty Dumpty (Zach Galifianakis). But the most anticipated new character is cat burglar Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek). "She steals my boots," Banderas says, "and my heart."
It's a reunion of sorts for the Spanish actor and the Mexican actress, who have done five movies together. Though he and Hayek recorded their Puss parts separately, Banderas has requested a day when they can go back into a booth and improvise some heat. "In Desperado, we improvised a lot. ... Salma and I have chemistry we could use in this movie, and we may get something very fresh out of it."
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