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PEOPLE & ARTS A29
‘Sicario’ lures Benicio del Toro back into the drug wars
JAKE COYLE
AP Film Writer
TORONTO (AP) — No other
actor has covered all an-
gles of the war on drugs —
its tragedies, its violence,
its farces — more than
Benicio del Toro.
It’s a story that has followed Toronto Film Festival, has
the Puerto Rico-born actor
from the start: One of his
first credits was the 1990
NBC miniseries “Drug Wars:
The Camarena Story.”
He has played a recov-
ering drug addict (“21
Grams”) and one not so re-
covering at all (“Fear and
Loathing in Las Vegas”).
The critical pinnacle of his
career came in his Oscar-
winning performance as
an honest Mexico police
officer in Steven Soder-
bergh’s “Traffic.”
In Denis Villeneuve’s mus-
cular, grim thriller “Sicario” recent interview. “And I
(which opens Friday and
expands nationwide Oct.
2), Del Toro finds himself
back on the other side of
the border, playing a mys-
terious mercenary joined
with a CIA task force co-
vertly pursing a Mexican
drug lord.
“I don’t know how it comes
about, but all I can say is
I’m an actor in this time,”
‘Cosby: The Women
Speak’ to air Thursday
LOS ANGELES (AP) — More
than a dozen of Bill Cosby’s
accusers will have their say
in a TV special.
The A&E channel said
Monday that “Cosby: The
Women Speak” will de-
tail the allegations made
against the entertain-
er and damage to Cosby’s
career and image.
Actress Louisa Moritz and
model Beverly Johnson are
among those who were in-
terviewed for the special
airing 9 p.m. EDT Thursday,
A&E said.
More than two dozen
women have accused
Cosby of sexually assault-
ing them, sometimes after
they had been drugged. A
defamation suit in Massa-
chusetts and a civil sexual-
assault case in California
are pending.
Cosby, who has never been
says del Toro. “Movies bor-
row from their times. These
stories are out there in the
newspapers.”
“Sicario,” which debuted
at the Cannes Film Festival
in May and had its North
American premiere at the
already drawn raves for
Del Toro’s terse gravitas
as a shadowy man known
only as Alejandro. He says
little but has a weighty
presence. “Nothing will
make sense to your Ameri-
can ears, and you will
doubt everything we do,”
he warns Emily Blunt’s less-
experienced FBI agent.
“I’ve been in movies where
I think it’s going to work,
and it doesn’t. I’ve been in
movies where I thought it
wasn’t going to work and
it did,” Del Toro said in a
tell you this one was one of
those that I didn’t know.”
Villeneuve, the Quebecois
director of “Prisoners,” was
more confident.
“He knows a lot about that
world being involved in
movies and coming back
with people who were in-
volved in drug wars,” says
Villeneuve. “For me, he
was a source of informa-
In this Jan. 3, 2015 file photo,
Beverly Johnson arrives at
the 26th annual Palm Springs
International Film Festival
Awards Gala in Palm Springs,
Calif. Associated Press
charged with a crime, has
acknowledged having sex
with many women and ob-
taining Quaaludes to use
during sex. He has denied
some of the claims.q
Tuesday 15 September 2015
Actor Benicio del Toro attends a screening of “Sicario” on day 2 of the Toronto International Film
Festival at the Princess of Wales theatre on Friday, Sept. 11, 2015, in Toronto. Associated Press
tion.” has frequently found — or to play the villain in Colin
Cinematographer Roger been found by — drug- Trevorrow’s “Star Wars: Epi-
Deakins likens the weary- war tales is somewhat sur- sode VIII.”
eyed Del Toro to Rob- prising to him. But it’s an “It’s a cool part. It’s a cool
ert Mitchum. Villeneuve issue he says he feels pas- director that I’m really ex-
would often cut Del Toro’s sionately about. cited to work with,” says
dialogue, stripping the “I’ve done my best not to Del Toro. “You’ve got to
part down as he realized repeat myself,” he says. build it up from zero, the
the actor did more with “I’ve done many charac- character. But it’s going to
less. ters that live in that world, be exciting. Hopefully it will
“It was very simple. I just the drug wars and the work.”
cut 90-95 percent of his drug world, but this one It’s not lost on the 48-year-
dialogue. Most of the time had a different angle.” old Del Toro, though, that
it was: ‘Say nothing. Ac- This string of films, from the strife and pain caused
tion!’” says Villeneuve, “Traffic” to “Sicario,” only by the war on drugs has
chuckling. “He’s someone make up a small part of now spanned his entire ca-
who’s very radical about Del Toro’s varied credits. reer. He believes the legal-
authenticity. When he He has played Che Gue- ization of drugs deserves
doesn’t feel something, he vara (“Che”), been a consideration.
cannot act. It has to come regular in the Marvel uni- “It’s time to evaluate the
from a deep emotional verse as The Collector and tactics,” he says, not-
understanding.” will always be beloved for ing that Colombia is now
That Del Toro, whose fam- his mumbling Fred Fenster much safer. “It’s real scary
ily moved to Pennsylvania in “The Usual Suspects.” what’s happening in
when he was 12 years old, He was also recently cast Mexico.”q
Schwarzenegger takes over
for Trump on ‘Apprentice’
In this March 22, 2015 television season.
file photo, Arnold Trump made the show a
Schwarzenegger poses for a success, with first regular
portrait during press day for folks and then celebrities
“Terminator Genisys” in Los competing in business-
Angeles. Associated Press related tasks. In seven
seasons, NBC said “The
Schwarzenegger will at- Celebrity Apprentice” has
tempt to fill Donald Trump’s helped raise more than $15
shoes on “The Celebrity million for charity.
Apprentice.” There’s no word on
NBC announced Monday whether Schwarzeneg-
NEW YORK (AP) — Former that the movie star and ger will replace Trump’s
California Gov. Arnold two-term governor is the “you’re fired” catchphrase
new host of the competi- with his own “you’re
tion show, which will return terminated.”q
to the network for the 2016