Benicio Del Toro has joked he's made a career out of "killing people".
The Puerto Rican actor plays drug cartel member Lado in Oliver Stone-directed Savages, which also stars Salma Hayek, Blake Lively and Taylor Kitsch.
Benicio didn't have any concerns about playing his corrupt character.
"I don’t think so. I’ve played drug dealers, all my life. I’ve made a career of killing people and playing all kinds of killers. As a Latino, you think about the portrait of the Latino, but it’s not one-handed, necessarily," he explained to Collider.
"There are not a lot of issues that get explored, on the other side. There is some sort of balance. It’s not blaming one person. When you blame just one group, it’s a problem. But here, in the way that I look at it, it’s a bigger issue. The violence and drugs is portrayed in exaggeration. This is fiction. That is how I looked at it. It’s more complex. And, sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. Just open a newspaper."
Benicio was in awe of director Stone. The Academy Award winner says the American filmmaker allowed creative freedom on set.
"The main reason for me doing this was Oliver Stone, as a filmmaker. Yeah, he allowed improvisation. He wants you to think and he wants you to make sure that you commit to it, so he might present some questions that make you think about your choices. Sometimes you have to be on your toes," he gushed.
© Cover Media