Benicio del Toro assures that in Hollywood the stories are not designed for minorities

At a massive press conference in Madrid before receiving this Ibero-American film award this Saturday, Benicio, the bull reviewed some of the milestones of his career, which have made him one of the great Hispanic talents of Hollywood.

Winner of awards such as the Oscar, the Golden Globe, the Baftathe Silver Bear in Berlin, the Palme d’Or in Cannes or Donostia, the actor explained how he managed to overcome the stereotypes to which Latinos seem condemned in American cinema.

“At some point I decided that if I was going to interpret stereotypes, I was going to do it by looking for humanity and complexity in the character,” said the protagonist of “Traffic” (2000), “The Usual Suspects” (1995) or “21 Grams” (2003), who thanked the receptivity of the directors, producers and scriptwriters with whom he has worked.

“Getting more involved also meant assuming more responsibility, it’s the path in which I, without being a writer or director, as an actor got involved and looked for a space”, explained.

In his opinion, the stereotypes exist “because the characters who represent minorities are not studied in depth”, perhaps because there is no “Enough writers to make the history of Hispanics in the United States.”

The actor was confident that this will change little by little: “Hispanics within the United States have to come out and make their own history, maybe now there are more opportunities, before making a movie was almost like going to the moon, now you can do it almost with a telephone.”

AN EVOLVING CAREER

Del Toro, whose beginnings were on television, considers that, over the years, he has evolved, has created his own style and has become more involved in projects, among which he mentioned the latest film he has shot for Netflix, “Reptile”. , in which he acts and has worked as a producer.

Asked about the mistakes he thinks he has made in the past, he commented that he is not tormented by it. “There are things that one does when young because he doesn’t have the organized energy, sometimes I have said ‘no’ to things out of rebellion, without thinking about them”, he admitted.

Today he tries not only to get more involved, but to be more in the present. “I am a father, that has changed me a lot, I see many dolls”he joked.

“As an actor I have had the opportunity -he valued- to work with excellent directors, some of the best in the world, and fantastic actors too and, like SpongeBob, one absorbs and learns”.

“When I started as an actor, my family was not very happy that I had decided that, now it is a little different,” stressed.

Regarding the distinction of the Platinum of Honor, I assure you that he feels “very honored” to follow in the footsteps of actors like the Spanish Antonio Banderas and Carmen Maura, the American Edward James Olmos and the Argentine Ricardo Darín, who received it in previous years.

The Platinum Awardsorganized by the Spanish copyright entity EGEDA and the Ibero-American audiovisual federation FIPCA, celebrate their tenth edition this Saturday, in which the film “Argentina, 1985” part as a favourite, with 14 nominations.

WITH INFORMATION FROM EFE.