"My heart attack was the best thing that ever happened in my life," Banderas admitted. "It was like somebody put glasses on me so I could see the reality that I didn't see before."

A second wind after the hospital bed

As a reminder, in 2017, the actor experienced chest pains at his home in Surrey, England. He underwent emergency surgery in which three stents were placed in his arteries. This medical crisis compelled Banderas to quit smoking for good and return to his hometown of Málaga.

"You always have in your mind that you're going to die," the actor reflects. "But then when you have it so close, it's an unbelievably clear reminder of how stupid you are losing time over things that don't deserve to be in your life."

After the trauma, Banderas threw himself into new creative and business projects: he opened his own theater, Teatro del Soho CaixaBank, in Málaga and ventured into the restaurant business.

His experience managing eight restaurants unexpectedly helped the actor in his work on his latest project—the upcoming biopic Tony about the famous chef and TV host Anthony Bourdain. Banderas plays Ciro Cozzi, a restaurateur and mentor to a young Bourdain.

Reflecting on his personality changes, Banderas notes that he has become much less afraid of criticism and has learned to express himself openly:

"Things you might've thought were important before vanish, and you realize the only thing that is really, really definite is death—everything else is relative."