Antonio Banderas on Possibly Working With Stepdaughter Dakota Johnson

Antonio Banderas still has plenty of love for his stepdaughter, Dakota Johnson, despite having divorced her mom Melanie Griffith in 2014.

While speaking to E! News in an interview that aired Feb. 6, Banderas, 64, said that he’d love to work with Johnson on a movie one day. “I would love to,” he told the outlet. “I would love to, but that’s something that is very difficult. I will search for [a project], but I would love to work with Dakota someday.”

Banderas added, “It’s because she’s a good actress.” Johnson, 35, made her acting debut in Crazy in Alabama, the first movie Banderas directed, in 1999.

“She developed now her career more in drama, but I remember when she did a TV show called Ben and Kate that I got a lot of fun [out of seeing] her on the screen, because she got the rhythm of comedy, too,” he added.

Johnson and Banderas had the chance to catch up with one another when they were both in Mallorca, Spain, in July 2024. “Happiness: Dakota in Malaga!,” the actor wrote in post shared via Instagram, along with a photo of the pair.

Banderas and Griffith, 67, married in 1996, when Johnson was 5. Though they eventually separated, Banderas continued to act as a father figure for Johnson.

“She was 5 when I met her, when she became my family,” he told Us in January 2020. “I almost changed her nappies. She’s my daughter, I love her. I’ve been with her on my shoulders, traveling all around the world.”

He also fondly looked back on Johnson presenting him an award at the Hollywood Film Awards in 2019. “She gave it to me and she gave one of the most beautiful speeches that anybody has given me,” he told E! News at the time. “So, I was very thankful to know that she thought that about Papi.”

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Johnson isn’t the only one who has maintained a close relationship with Banderas since the split. In August 2016, Griffith wished Banderas a very special happy birthday on Instagram. “Happy Birthday to my ruggedly handsome ex husband @antoniobanderasoficia,” she wrote, “I will always love you.”

In February 2016, Griffith offered marriage advice — or the lack thereof —at the New York premiere of Johnson’s film How to Be Single. “Don’t get married!” she said. “There’s no need. You don’t need to get married to have a child anymore. It’s not like there’s a stigma on a child, and getting married, you either go through the whole bulls–t of a prenuptial, or if you want to get divorced and you don’t have a prenuptial, then you wish you had a prenuptial.”