ANTONIO BANDERAS PAINTS A 'PICASSO' FOR FILM

We nominate Antonio Banderas as the new standard for heroic preparation for a movie role:

Spaniard Banderas, playing Spaniard Pablo Picasso, has gone to such lengths he’s painted his own Guernica. Full-size.

Trust us, this is pretty amazing, since Guernica is huge (nearly 26 feet wide) and one of the most important anti-war artworks ever created anywhere by anybody.

Even Oscar winner  Anthony Hopkins — a painter himself — didn’t go that far when he played the ferocious (and ferociously gifted Picasso) in Surviving Picasso in 1996.

Banderas is to star in 33 días, directed by Spanish director Carlos Saura, about the making ofGuernica, Picasso’s howl of outrage at the brutality of war after the Nazis picked the Basque village of Guernica for target practice in 1937.

Gwyneth Paltrow is to play his mistress at the time, photographer Dora Maar.

Banderas explains why he feels he’s perfect for the part, in Details magazine this month to promote his latest film, The Expendables 3: