
Benicio Del Toro‘s feature in the current issue of Flaunt (#108 – The Abandonment Issue) makes one thing clear about the Wolfman star: he’s brutally honest. Well, OK, two things: he has quite the pottymouth (but that doesn’t surprise me). He talks with Greg LaGambina about his his difficult childhood, his career, and growing older. Some highlights:
On what makes a man: “What makes a f—ing man? I don’t know. What makes anyone? I don’t think a man has to be macho. I thought that when I was 16. Sometimes I still feel like I’m 12. But I realize I can’t jump as high. I can’t deal with a hangover as easy as I could back in the day. But that’s just life, man. You go through it. I don’t know if I’m ever gonna figure it out.
On what he doesn’t like in a person: “I’ll tell you one thing I don’t like. I don’t like it when people lie. I can understand if someone is on a mission. But when people flat out lie to your face, and you catch them in that lie, and then they lie again. That s— I don’t like. You know what I mean?”
On what he DOES like in a person: “Maybe the thing I like the most when I meet someone—man or a woman—is their ability to see that everyone is different. The ability to see that you can be smart in different ways. I hate when they try to pigeonhole everyone. Everything you do has to be this or that.”
On his 20+ year career in films: “After Traffic, I was flying first class. Before Traffic, I was flying coach. Between The Usual Suspects and Traffic, I was flying in the bulkhead. I’m in the cockpit now. I’ve earned it. No one gave it to me. I’ve earned it and I enjoy doing it. So far, I do. You know, I’ve been doing movies now for a long time. I like to pretend I’m still 21, but I’ve been doing movies for 22 years. That’s a long time. I started young. I didn’t finish college. I had no idea about movies. Nothing about movies. But I knew I had seen life. I knew I had a lot more life at that age because of my upbringing. Life happened. It came at me in some ways. I knew I had things I could draw from. I found myself experiencing something I didn’t know I was going to experience. I was 19. I was so young.”
Kurt Iswarienko‘s amazing, artistic photos accompany the interview. Check them out below.
Photo Source: Flaunt
