by Paul Fischer
by
Paul Fischer
Quietly spoken and fiercely shy, one has the distinct impression
that Oscar winner Benicio 
del
Toro would rather be working on the set of his latest
film, than talking to the press in a New York hotel room at 8 am on a
Sunday morning. But the actor is begrudgingly accepting of the publicity
aspect of movie making, as he grins and bears talking about his role in
The Hunted. Directed by veteran William Friedkin,
Del Toro plays a U.S. military assassin who goes criminally psycho back
in the States after nightmarish experiences in Kosovo. His original trainer,
an eccentric recluse played by Tommy Lee Jones, is brought
out of retirement to track him down. The film uses minimal dialogue in
this outdoors-set thriller and one wonders whether the film's silences
attracted Del Toro to this unusual film. "For me then attraction
was Billy Friedkin and that's how I got pulled into the story", the
actor says, quietly. "I met with him and we talked about it and then
the character was a bit different. It was a little bit one-dimensional,
you know and after a series of conversations with Billy, we started working
on it to make it less one-dimensional, more in the gray." The actor
jokingly says that Friedkin's uniqueness is derived from "his refusal
to do any press and sends me here." But that aside, he says Friedkin
brings a unique quality to his work. "When I first saw The Hunted,
I realized what a great ear he had because the sound of the film is fantastic
and on the set, he's a director who knows what he wants. He really knew
that this movie was going to move which was kinda good."
As for the film's lengthy silences, Del Toro says that he enjoyed the
challenge of playing a character not defined by what he says. "I
think it brings the audience into his psyche and kind of forces you to
ask: What is he thinking instead of explaining it all the time."
In order to prepare for the film, Del Toro and co-star Tommy Lee
Jones were required to attend a hunting school, where the pair
learned how to master a knife and survive in the woods. The actor may
have been a fast learner according to real-life tracker and teacher Tom
Brown, but Del Toro sheepishly admits that he learned "Very little!"
from the hunting school experience and would demand a cell phone if dropped
in the woods now.
Del Toro has effortlessly moved from independent, quirky character roles,
to the less comfortable world of mainstream Hollywood and emerged in the
mid-90s as one of the most watchable and charismatic character actors
to surface in years who gained mainstream public attention as the conflicted,
one good cop" in Steven Soderbergh's Traffic.
Born in Puerto Rico on February 19, 1967, Benicio was the
son of lawyer parents. His mother died when he was 
young,
and his father moved the family to a farm in Pennsylvania A basketball
player with an interest in acting, he decided to follow the family way
and study business at the University of California in San Diego. A class
in acting renewed the acting bug, and he subsequently dropped out and
began studying with renowned acting teacher Stella Adler in Los Angeles
and at the Circle in the Square Acting School in New York City. Del Toro
hid his new studies from his family for a little while. During the late
80s he made a few TV appearances, most notably on an episode of "Miami
Vice" and in the NBC miniseries "Drug Wars: The Kiki Camarena
Story". Del Toro's big screen career got off to a slower start, with
his first role as Duke the Dog-Faced Boy in Big Top Pee-Wee.
Landing the role of the Dario, vicious henchman in the James Bond film
Licence to Kill, Del Toro surprised all Bond fans as the youngest
Bond villain ever, only 21 years old at the time. The potential break
however was spoiled as Licence to Kill tanked, lost amid bigger
summer competition.
Benicio gave creditable performances in many overlooked
films for the next few years, such as The Indian Runner, 
Christopher
Columbus: The Discovery, and Money For Nothing. His roles
in Fearless and China Moon gained him more critical
notices. 1995 proved to be the first of his years as he gave a memorable
performance in Swimming with Sharks before taking critics and
film buffs by storm as the mumbling, mysterious gangster in The Usual
Suspects. An Oscar-winning film, Del Toro won an Independent Spirit
Award for Best Supporting actor for the role.
Staying true to his independent roots, he next gave a charismatic
turn as cold-blooded gangster Gaspare in The Funeral directed
by Abel Ferrara. He also appeared in Basquiat
directed by artist friend Julian Schnabel. The year also
marked his first truly commercial film as he played cocky Spanish baseball
star Juan Primo in The Fan which starred Robert De Niro.
Del Toro took his first leading man role in Excess Baggage, starring
and produced by Alicia Silverstone. Hand-picked by Silverstone,
his performance was about the only thing critics praised about the film,
and showed the level of consciousness he was beginning to have in the
minds of film fans. In 1998, Del Toro took a leading role with Johnny
Depp in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, directed by
legendary director Terry Gilliam. Taking a short break,
he worked solidly in 2000, first appearing in Way of the Gun,
directed by friend and Usual Suspects writer Christopher
McQuarrie. Then he went to work for Steven Soderbergh
in Traffic which earned him an Oscar. Reluctant to talk about
the Oscar win specifically, he was genuinely surprised at the win. "Standing
up there looking out at the crowd and suddenly you see Dustin Hoffman
looking at you. That's pretty shocking, and that's my
memory when I was up there." Del Toro does confirm that the Academy
Award has changed the industry's perceptions of him. "I do get more
choices of things which is a blessing and a curse", he concedes.
"Because you can only do one at a time so you don't know which way
to go." He feels that he has "done pretty well" in choosing
projects. "I've liked most of the films that I've been in and those
are the kinds of films I like to see."
Though far more comfortable working in smaller films, there's an uneasy
irony that The Hunted is as big-budget and mainstream as you
can get. Commenting on the differences, this most reluctant of Hollywood
stars says There's more money and the trailer is a little bit nicer. Some
things are very nice, but they will keep you there for a while. The
movie can go over. We went back to film again (for re-shoots on several
scenes). When there's money, they go: 'Yeah, we own you!' "You have
to accept it. I resent it to an extent, you know, but that's my nature."
He is far more enthusiastic about 21 Grams, from director Alejandro
González Iñárritu of Amores Perros fame.
The film also stars Sean Penn and Naomi Watts.
"I play this guy who has been to jail, now he's clean, trying to
stick to this kind of born again way of living, but in a very black or
white way." Working with Penn and Watts, he says, was like a dream
come true. "The best way to describe it is, when you're off camera,
it's great because you're watching a great show happening right in front
of you."