Harper's Bazaar
By Natalie Nicohols
February 2001
Benicio Del Toro has already been called the Brando of his generation. Yet, modestly (or cynically), he's quick to dismiss the idea. "Robert De Niro, Sean Penn, Gary Oldman, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Micky Rourke--everybody's like Brando," he says. "Brando is the Picasso of acting. Brando is acting." Sitting in the Polo Lounge at the Beverly Hills Hotel, the Puerto Rican-born actor exudes low-key charisma. Alternately intense and laid-back, cool and silly, forthcoming and aloof. Del Toro has long been a chameleon on-screen as well; he has routinely excelled at playing a variety of unpredictable characters opposite such heavyweights as Kevin Spacey (The Usual Suspects), Johnny Depp (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas), and De Niro (The Fan). Now his high-profile roles in Steven Soderbergh's edgy drug-war triptych Traffic and Guy Ritchie's colorful caper flick Snatch (with Michael Douglas and Brad Pitt, respectively) may finally fulfill the mainstream potential demonstrated as ill-fated mumbler Fred Fenster in 1995's The Usual Suspects.
While the 33-year-old actor hasn't been offered a turn as iconic as Brando's in On The Waterfront ("I could watch that movie over and over"), he comes close with his riveting portrayal of a conflicted Mexican cop in Traffic (he plays much of the role in Spanish). Hollywood is buzzing about a possible Oscar nomination. Del Toro, who grew up on a Pennsylvania farm before moving to San Diego to attend college, insists he isn't chasing money or glamour, though being nominated would be cool, he admits. But either way, he says, "it's not going to change anything. It's about doing something interesting." Besides, red carpets make him queasy. "My hands get sweaty, and I always think I'm going to stumble or fall. I get headaches from the fixed smile," he adds, turning on a fake 5000-watt grin. Good-natured mocking of Hollywood convention aside, Del Toro clearly thrives on working with actors and directors he considers fellow craftsmen, people like De Niro, Depp, Penn, and Soderbergh. "I've been lucky," he says. "What I'm doing is getting respect, and I'm getting better at what I do."
(Photograph by Cliff Watts)