The movie that sent Benicio del Toro’s career into a hole: “I was unemployable”
Hunter S Thompson arguably shouldn’t have been giving advice to “swim or float” considering his reclusive nature, but the writer warned Benicio del Toro that he’d be “unemployable” after playing Dr Gonzo in his book’s adaptation to the big screen in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
It doesn’t get more extreme than Thompson. The writer’s self-proclaimed breakfast diet comprised “…four Bloody Marys… two margaritas, and six lines of the best cocaine for dessert”; make of that what you will. Benicio del Toro, meanwhile, was just breaking into the industry at the time of being cast as Dr Gonzo in Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas. This was following roles in The Usual Suspects and Basquiat.
It was only a matter of time until del Toro was recognised for his talents after his Oscar-winning performance in Traffic. But shortly after Fear and Loathing, the actor revealed the struggles he faced for simply staying true to the book’s character.
“My career definitely went into a hole after Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” Del Toro said when speaking to Cinema. “The worst thing about that was that a lot of people assumed that that was the way I normally spoke, especially if they remembered me from The Usual Suspects.”
He added: “Hunter S Thompson told me that my career would be over after I did the film, and he was right – I was unemployable for about a year.”
Despite del Toro’s efforts to play that particular character as authentically as possible, he faced several struggles subsequently, ironically, because he played the role a little too well.
In his interview with Cinema, del Toro added: “All I tried to do with the character in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is be faithful to the book, in playing this completely wacked out, crazed man. There was no other way I could play the guy. What went wrong is that I guess I was too convincing and that everybody believed that I was on drugs myself. It was insane. Plus, it took me three months to lose all that weight. That was the worst part, let me tell you – I’ll never put myself through that again.”
Del Toro has seen mixed fortunes in his career in Hollywood, dating back to the mid-1990s. However, he continues to stay relevant and at the top of his game, which has been rather evident with his role in the Sicario trilogy playing an ice-cold narcotics agent (of sorts) and nurturing an upcoming Emily Blunt who seemed pretty clueless and as confused as her character in the first Sicario film.
Del Toro has come full circle with his latest role in Grant Singer’s feature film and directorial debut Reptile. However, how close the veteran actor came to almost fading away into anonymity after his wrongly received role through no fault of his own in Fear and Loathing serves as a gentle humbling in more ways than one.
