How a heart attack helped Antonio Banderas with 'Pain & Glory' role

Antonio Banderas has already won the best actor award at the Cannes Film Festival for his role in the new film, "Pain & Glory." And with the awards season just around the corner, Banderas' performance is stirring lots of buzz. However, he says he's doing his best not to get caught up in the hype.

"You have to put everything in perspective when you are successful," Banderas told ABC News, "and also when you have some failures. This is the story of our professional life. And you have to take both sides of the spectrum."

The film comes from award-winning Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar. It tells a fictional story of Almodóvar's life, with some very real-life parallels.

"It's difficult to play always somebody who actually lived," Banderas said in a recent appearance on "Popcorn with Peter Travers." "If that person is still alive, it's a little bit more complicated. But if that person is actually giving you 'action' and 'cut' and he's behind the camera, the situation becomes a little bit more complicated."

Banderas said a very personal experience helped him shape the character.

"I had a heart attack two and a half years ago, and it was useful for this movie," Banderas, 59, told Travers. "We actors we use everything that happens in our personal lives, and we apply that to our characters."

Banderas said Almodóvar agreed that something had changed with him as an actor following his health scare. Almodóvar encouraged him to dig deep for the role.

"I knew exactly what he was talking about," Banderas said. "So we provided the character with all of those personal experiences that I had."

Watch the full interview with Peter Travers and Antonio Banderas in the video above.

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