Portrait Of The Artist

Antonio Banderas brings Spanish artist Pablo Picasso to life in a passionate new drama

- Emma Bullimore

When producer Kenneth Biller decided on Pablo Picasso as his subject for season two of biopic series Genius (following last year’s series on Albert Einstein), he had just one actor in mind for it.

‘We flew to London to meet Antonio Banderas and ask him to take it on,’ recalls Biller. ‘We were delighted to discover he was a Picasso aficionado.’

The 57-year-old Spanish actor was quick to accept because of his strong connection to the artist. Both men were born in Málaga and Banderas even remembers walking past Picasso’s childhood home on his way to school every day.