Benicio, the bull

Clarinet call. The copy is already in the square. He has an impressive physique. It seems to be an animal of few words that, however, will cause people to talk. Terrifying and irresistible seen from the sidelines. It will be a fantastic fighting bull that will fulfill its role as the bad guy in the film but that, inevitably, will have to receive the applause of the public. This is not about first swords or banderilleros, here the real protagonist is the bull Benicio, one of the few who managed to carve out a respected niche in Hollywood as a secondary specialized in embodying the bad guy in the movie.

Benicio del Toro was born on February 19, 1967 in Santurce (Puerto Rico). At the age of 9 his mother died, and his father decided to move the family to Pennsylvania. The son of lawyers, he began to study at the University of California, although he soon showed more interest in acting and began to take classes. So he dropped out of college to focus on his acting studies. He initially did not say anything at home, because he knew that they were not going to take the change well. They had always told him that the law gave a stability that was very difficult to achieve with interpretation. Over the years, Benicio had a very peculiar way of being accountable at home thanks to the movie Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998), where he was Johnny Depp ‘s lawyer., although most of the footage was spent under the influence of alcohol and drugs. And it is that Benicio has never been a good boy on screen. There are physicists who mark a career, and whoever is born as a bull cannot live as a heifer.

Benicio’s career began on television, where he worked on episodes of series such as Miami Vice . In 1988 he made his film debut with a very minor role in the family film Big Top Pee-Wee . Just a year later he played Darío, one of the henchmen of the evil drug trafficker Sánchez in the Bond title License to Kill (1989) . This type of secondary roles followed one another in titles such as Strange blood link  (1991), Cristobal Colón, the discovery (1992), Without fear of life (1993) or the Spanish Huevos de oro (1993) by Bigas Luna . His first big break came with The Usual Suspects .(1994), where he was a thief and smuggler, one of the criminals who were called by the mysterious Keyser Soze.

Interestingly, for his first bigger role, del Toro changed registers. It was in Excess Baggage (1997), where he turned to comedy, although the truth is that he played a thief who ends up carrying out a peculiar kidnapping of Alicia Silverstone . And the truth is that, although the guy did not do anything bad, his rude appearance with a tremendous aroma of bad temper means that this type of role is not the last match for him. So, he continued with his secondary characters that were dark and far from humorous, except in very specific cases like Snatch. Pigs and Diamonds (2000), peppered with some fantastic drops of black humour.

And notice that the guy, when he’s bad, is priceless. But the lion is not always as fierce as he is portrayed to be, so he has managed to take advantage of the tormented facet of those characters who know they have not done the right thing, but who want to correct their mistakes. In fact, it is these papers that have brought him the most recognition. His first big moment came in Steven Soderbergh ‘s Traffic (2000) . His interpretation of the Mexican policeman Javier Rodríguez helped him win the Oscar, the Golden Globe and the Silver Bear. This dichotomy between good and evil is also present in 21 grams(2003), where he once again offered a masterful interpretation. Jack Jordan lives a real torment, because he wants to leave his criminal life behind, something that he, as he will verify, can be an almost impossible mission. In this start over, Benicio finds himself like a fish in water. Recently, he has done something similar in Things We Lost in the Fire (2007), a drama where he was a drug addict struggling to give up his addictions. Benicio is the perfect incarnation of that man everyone would like to help, but he is hard to trust. An injured wild animal.

His most evil and twisted facet has always been present in his career, as evidenced by more recent titles such as Sin City (City of Sin) . The novelty, however, comes now. For the first time, Benicio has become the undisputed protagonist of history thanks to Soderbergh and his two titles on Che Guevara, which the actor himself has produced. In Che, the Argentine and Che, the guerrilla , del Toro perfectly interprets the legendary revolutionary, which has helped him to be recognized at the Cannes Film Festival. If these titles represent, in a certain sense, a great novelty in his career, his latest work can be said to be a return to the fold. In The WolfmanHe will once again have the absolute leading role, but recovers the tragic feeling of wanting to eliminate a part of his life that he does not want to live with. And it is that Benicio will hit the theaters turned into a terrifying werewolf.

In his personal life, del Toro is a pretty low-key guy. He is known to some girlfriends in the world such as Chiara Mastroiani, Valeria Golino and Claire Forlani . But the truth is that Benicio is one of those actors who is known for his work. And very deservedly, everything is said. This is a bull that deserves a pardon. He will be an orange scarf, without a doubt.