Born in Puerto Rico to lawyer parents in 1967, Benicio Del Toro is best known for three roles - the mumbling Fred Fenster in "The Usual Suspects"; the mumbling Franky Four Fingers in "Snatch"; and the Mexican cop Javier Rodriguez in "Traffic" (he may well have been mumbling, but our Spanish isn't good enough to tell). He won the best supporting actor Academy Award for the latter, delivering a 100% mumble-free acceptance speech. Now he's on the run from Tommy Lee Jones in "The Hunted".
How would you describe your character in "The Hunted"?
To me, he's like Frankenstein's monster in some ways. Someone created him and taught him to kill. Now he's trying to find somebody who'll listen to him, but he can't find anyone. So he finds himself out on his own and tries to survive.
What appealed to you about this film?
It's got a message to it. If you train someone to kill, how can you stop them from doing that? A lot of people say that's very difficult, to leave it behind. You know, people who've fought in wars, they keep those demons in the closet and then, one day, something happens.
What kind of research did you do for this role?
I do as much research as I need to, based on the script. And, of course, we did a lot of knife fighting training. I spent a lot of time in the gym practising the moves. I wanted the fighting to look as realistic as possible.
You did injure yourself during a fight scene, didn't you? You broke your wrist. How did that happen?
You know, it's the ones that look easy which are the ones that are going to get you hurt! I was diving to the ground in the forest, reaching for a knife and Tommy dived in too and he landed on top of me. We'd practiced it in the gym with mats on the floor many times, but when we got out into the middle of the forest, the land is different. I just fell awkwardly and Tommy fell on top of me.
