CityLife

Interview: Benicio Del Toro

Benicio Del Toro

Since he burst onto the big screen as the indecipherable, scene-stealing gangster, Fred Fenster, in The Usual Suspects, Puerto Rican actor, Benicio Del Toro, has proven to be a cinematic force.

Dark, edgy, brooding on screen, he’s also developed a reputation for being difficult in interviews, only last year walking out on The Washington Times while discussing his starring role in Che.

Yet his rebellious nature is all part of his appeal. Having unapologetically carved out a career on his own terms, he’s the man most men want to be and most women wouldn’t mind a flirtation with.

At 6ft 2in, dressed in an immaculate ink black suit and shirt, he cuts a striking, if imposing, figure, and makes his warm hand-shake all the more disarming.

We’re here to talk about his latest movie, a gothic horror called The Wolfman, based on the 1941 classic. It tells the tale of a haunted nobleman by the name of Lawrence Talbot, played by Del Toro, who returns to his family estate to discover the truth behind his brother’s disappearance.

“I’m a fan of movies. All kinds of movies,” he says in an American accent flecked with Spanish, although his mouth hardly moves.

“See, my earliest recollection as a child watching movies were all those classic, universal horror movies, like Frankenstein with Boris Karloff, Bride of Frankenstein with Elsa Lanchester and Lon Chaney Sr and Lon Chaney Jr movies,” he says rubbing his left cheek.

“I knew these movies when I was a kid and then I ended up doing movies.”

Movies were never in Del Toro’s master plan. At the age of nine, his mother died of hepatitis and the young Del Toro reacted by rebelling against everything he knew, particularly his father, a lawyer called Gustavo.

Considered troublesome, he was shipped off to a boarding school in Pennsylvania when he was 13 years old. Five years later, after enrolling on a business degree at the University of California, he joined a college acting class and was instantly hooked.

Fascination

It wasn’t long before he was learning the craft under the eagle eye of Stella Adler, the legendary method-acting tutor who taught the likes of Marlon Brando. And much like Brando, Del Toro is known for his meticulous preparation when embarking on a role.

His approach may not be to everyone’s taste but his undeniable talent secured him an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 2001 for his role as a righteous Mexican policeman in Traffic and three years later another nomination for 21 Grams.

For his role in the Wolfman, the transformation into a werewolf was particularly painstaking, involving hours in the make-up trailer where prosthetics, fangs and fur were applied.

Although he admits he was ‘very proud’ of himself in the make-up, when asked if he enjoyed the process, he shrugs his shoulders and simply says, ‘Initially’ before contemplating the question for a moment. Del Toro, it’s clear to see, is not a man to get ruffled.

The release of the movie marks the end of a journey that began, according to producer, Rick Yorn, when the two of them were walking in Hollywood.

“A few years ago, when Benicio and I were walking out of his house, I saw the one-sheet for The Wolf Man,” recalls Yorn. “It shows a close-up of Lon Chaney Jr as the monster. I looked at the poster, then back at Benicio, who had a full beard at the time and said, ‘How would you feel about remaking The Wolf Man?’”

Among the cast is Emily Blunt of The Devil Wears Prada fame, as Gwen, the widow of Talbot’s brother and Sir Anthony Hopkins as his estranged father.

“Yeah, I was intimidated, of course I was intimidated,” he says, furrowing his brow as he talks about acting opposite Hopkins. “He’s like a legend. But you learn and he was very cool and generous. I just followed him,” he adds modestly.

Wishing to honour the monster movies of old, Del Toro says he was excited about ‘making it in the classic, hand-crafted way’.

The end result is set to see moviegoers as entranced by this mythological creature as they were more than 60 years ago. So, what does Del Toro think is the enduring fascination with ‘the wolfman’ figure?

“I don’t know,” he says leaning forward slightly, the merest hint of a smile playing around his mouth and a glint in his eye. “I think it might be in our subconscious, there’s something in us that is attracted to it. We’re all animals at the end of the day.”