The Mask of Zorro (1998)

This movie is one of those 1990s movies you may have watched, at one point or another, in Spanish class in school. I know I certainly did. Me and my sister suspect that the reason we always watched this movie was because our teacher, Bertha Garcia-DeBurke, who hailed from the Mexican city of Guadalajara, had a major crush on Antonio Banderas.

Summary
-After his brother is brutally murdered by an Army captain, a young thief seeks revenge and is trained by the once great hero of the people, Zorro, who is seeking revenge of his own

Cast
-Diego Sieres: young Joaquin Murrieta
-Jose Maria de Tavira: young Alejandro Murrieta
-William Marquez: Fray Felipe
-Stuart Wilson: Don Rafael Montero
-Tony Amendola: Don Luiz
-Anthony Hopkins: Don Diego de la Vega / Zorro
-Antonio Banderas: Alejandro Murrieta / Zorro
-Julieta Rosen: Esperanza de la Vega
-Victor Rivers: Joaquin Murrieta
-L.Q. Jones: Three-Fingered Jack
-Matt Letscher: Captain Harrison Love
-Jose Perez: Cpl. Armando Garcia
-Catherine Zeta-Jones: Elena

Did You Know?

-Joaquin Murrieta was not only a historical figure, but was also thought to be the inspiration for the literary character Zorro

-At first, Anthony Hopkins refused the role of Don Diego de la Vega because of massive back pain. But after undergoing a laser treatment, he was able to take the role.

-Professional sword trainer Bob Anderson, who trained Errol Flynn, remarked that Antonio Banderas was the most talented sword fighter he has ever worked with since Flynn. It also helps that Banderas trained with the Spanish Olympic team for four months

-In the scene where Elena and Zorro are fighting in the stable, Elena's dress falls off after being sliced by Zorro's sword. To pull this effect off, a wire was attached to her dress to pull it off
-Antonio Banderas was strict about performing his own stunts, to make it more authentic
-The Addams Family actor Raul Julia was originally supposed to play the role of Don Diego de la Vega, but he died before casting begun.
-Catherine Zeta-Jones was cast because Steven Spielberg enjoyed watching her in the 1996 Titanic miniseries and suggested her

-If you look close enough, there are subtle differences in the Zorro costumes worn by Alejandro Murrieta (Antonio Banderas) and Don Diego de la Vega (Anthony Hopkins). The costume designer for the movie claims that de la Vega's costume reflects his Spanish heritage while Alejandro's reflects his Mexican heritage

Anthony Hopkins

 

Antonio Banderas

-Three of the possible considerations for the role of Elena was Latina pop singer Shakira, Latina actress Penelope Cruz and actress Salma Hayek

-In a nod to the Zorro series, Antonio Banderas voices a character called Puss in Boots in the Shrek series. Essentially, this character is a feline form of Zorro, who wears a hat, boots and fights with a sword.

-Only when Alejandro dons the Zorro mask does he use one of de la Vega's swords. Up to that point, he had been using his own sword
-Three of the considerations for the role of Alejandro Murrieta were Mark Anthony, Joaquin de Almeida, Andy Garcia, Elmer Figueroa Arce
-Giancarlo Giannini, Lance Henriksen, Sam Shepard, Edward James Olmos, Scott Glenn were all considered for the role of Don Rafael Montero
-In the movie, Sir Anthony Hopkins and Catherine Zeta-Jones play father and daughter and in real life are actually Welsh-born. They are the only Welsh-born actors present
-Welsh actor Sir Anthony Hopkins plays Spaniard Don Diego de la Vega while Spaniard Antonio Banderas plays Mexican Alejandro Murrieta
-Ironically, Antonio Banderas is Spanish in real life instead of Mexican. He has more in common with the antagonists than the protagonist

-The characters Joaquin Murrieta, Alejandro Murrieta and Three Finger Jack were all real-life bandits from Northern California during the 1849 Gold Rush. Joaquin Murrieta was Mexican, born in Sonora and moved to California to find fortune with gold. After American gold miners beat him and robbed him, he swore to see vengeance. He found a group of bandits and lead them through the California wilderness, killing anyone who posed a threat. Americans saw him as a reason to hang anyone who spoke Spanish while Mexicans looked at him like a folk hero. Three Finger Jack was a Mexican named Manuel Garcia, who was Murrieta's sidekick. He was supposedly killed on July 18, 1853 by Captain Harry Love, who preserved Murrieta's head in a jar of alcohol and Three Finger Jack's hand as proof they were dead.

Captain Harry Love

Joaquin Murrieta