Benicio Del Toro offers one of his most important and funny roles under the orders of Wes Anderson

It is not precisely a stranger to us. In addition to recognizing it immediately because of his Puerto Rican roots, Benicio Del Toro received an Oscar for his great performance in “Traffic” (2000), the impressive film by Steven Soderbergh who put him in the shoes of a Tijuana police.

It is not your only link with characters from our community. A few years later, he combined with Alejandro G. Inarritu to play a former sentenced in “21 Grams” (2003), a drama which gave a new nomination to the Oscars. And how can we forget its characterization of the mythical Argentinian guerrillas in “Che” (2008), again by Soderbergh’s hand?

Now, the native of Santurce again gives what to speak in terms of recognition ceremonies because of his brilliant and hilarious stellar participation in “The Phoenic Scheme”, a Wes Anderson film which also marks the return in the form of a filmmaker who had lost the compassion in recent times.

In the film, which has just released in Los Angeles and will be in Salas across the country from June 6, Del Toro embodies the Anatole “Zsa-Zsa” Korda, a very doubtful European reputation magnate which begins to think of a change of attitude after having gathered with his daughter Liesl (Mia Loupleton), who, despite being a nun, is not a dead mosquito.

In the Interview with Los Angeles Times in Spanish that you can also find here in its original video version, the latin actor offersts of his collaboration with Anderson, the construction of his character and what he meant to participate in a movie that also has interventions of Michael Cera, rice Ahmed, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Scarlett Johanson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Wilm Dafoe and Bill Murray

Benicio, you had already worked with Wes in his previous feature film, “The French Dispatch”, but that places you on another level. The character you play here, ZSA-Zsa, is great and comes out in almost every time. In addition, he has impressive clothes, shirts with an unforgettable dress.

Well, that is part of being in a Wes Anderson film. In the script are all the details of which is your character. In addition, it surrounds many talented people. You talked about the locker room, designed by Milena Canonero, who worked with Stanley Kubrick. I think he has four Oscars. It is a legend. Going to do the costume tests was also part of the character’s creation, starting with the shoes.

This must have helped you, because it was obviously difficult to create such a credible character in the middle of such a surreal story. But, of course, Wes also told you. In fact, I know he wrote the role for you.

Yes, he wrote it for me, but, even if we did “The French Dispatch”, he asked me if I wanted to participate in his next film. I told him of course. Then he said to me, “Are you ready? I’ll send you the first twenty pages.” I read them; The role was ZSA-Zsa, and I thought: “WOW, it’s incredible.” I was very well written. He was read as a piece written in the ’50 or something like that. Then he started to send me more and more pages, and I was still in the film. So I was afraid. It’s when you think: “Oh, all your wishes have been made. Now you have to close the door and get to work.”

Have you repeated long before filming?

We talked a lot when he sent me the pages and while we went around the script. We are talking about influences and inspirations for history. Sometimes we talked about dream sequences, which are somehow the awakening of the character’s consciousness. But, in the end, I had to learn the lines of the script alone; No one was going to learn them for me.

What were these references?

We are talking about [Aristotle] Ussis, of course. We are talking about [Gianni] Agnelli, the Italian billionaire. We are talking about Howard Hughes. We are talking about William Randolph Hearst. We are talking about “Citizen Kane”. We even speak a little of Buñuel and Fellini.

There is a documentary on the set of “Apocalypse Now”, and Francis Ford Coppola appears on this incredible trip he made, making his own Phoenician program. They recommended me to see it, and it seemed very interesting to observe it by fighting all these obstacles, trying to survive before them. I think something similar, but not the same, arrives in Zsa-Zsa in this story.

Mia Treleton is also excellent in this film, and I have read that it is his important important role. You said you felt intimidated when you realized that your character was going to have a lot of presence on the screen; Does it seem intimidated when she ended up with you?

I don’t think he felt intimidated by me. She is very strong and she has these big eyes that transfer you. When we hear, I was there with Wes, and I remember that there was a time when our eyes crossed and that she was not blinking. It was a moment of silence; I supported my eyes, but she kept it.

When he left, I turned to Wes and said: “This is exactly what ZSA-Zsa needs for reconstruction. It must be so strong.” We were very lucky to have played.

You also share the screen with many Hollywood stars. Michael Wax is incredible. But there is a scene with Tom Hanks and Bryan Cranston who is crazy. How was he going to roll him?

Well, I’m a fan of Tom Hanks since I have memory, and also by Bryan Cranston. They arrived and went up completely in paper. At the beginning, I saw them like a fan, but I then remembered that they played a role, so I also had to put my 50%. It was very fun, and I think the scene was very good.

They were completely delivered. I had a lot to do in this scene. In addition to playing basketball, there is a time when I arrive in a depressive conversation. They supported me a lot while trying.

There is also an incredible combat scene with Benedict Cumberbatch, Slastick Style. Have many doubles used it?

There was a moment with some of this, but most of us were Benedict and I made sure not to harm us. We were very professional, but we took it seriously and we gave everything. In a certain part, he jumps and begins to strangle me, and the camera moves in the opposite direction to our own movement, which creates a feeling of disorientation.

There was a time when the specialists entered to help us, but other than that, we were Benedict and I ran on the stairs and making our best versions of Abbott and Costello.