Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Want to understand the reason and the meanings of the narratives that led us here and maybe how to head them off at the pass? That's On The Media's specialty. I'm Brooke Gladstone, host of WNYC's On The Media. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.
This is Fresh Air. I'm David Bianculli. Benicio del Toro, an actor who has made a career out of playing complex, morally ambiguous characters, is nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role in the Paul Thomas Anderson film One Battle After Another. Del Toro plays Sergio St. Carlos, a karate instructor and leader of an immigrant rescue operation.
Leonardo DiCaprio plays Bob Ferguson, a member of a far-left revolutionary group, the French 75. He's burned out and has been living off the grid for 16 years, raising his daughter Willa. Her mother, who also was a revolutionary, fled to Mexico when Willow was a baby. Let's listen to a clip from the film.
In this scene, Benicio del Toro as Sergio is in his karate studio when he gets a call warning him that the authorities are coming after the migrants hiding in the building where he lives. While on the phone, he gets a knock at the door. It's Bob. He's trying to contact his daughter, who's in danger.
Chapter 2: Who is Benicio del Toro and what is his latest Oscar nomination for?
Hang on a second. Yeah, can I help you? I need your help, Sensei. I need your help, man. You still there? What time you get off work?
I'm coming.
Call Maricela and tell her I'm on my way. I'm basically in the car.
Yes.
I'm gonna call Esperanza and I'll call you back, okay? Okay.
Bye.
Bob, we gotta go. I need a weapon, man. All you got is nunchucks. You know where I can get a gun? What's going on?
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Chapter 3: What role does Benicio del Toro play in 'One Battle After Another'?
MKU. MKU, man. They're everywhere right now. MKU? MKU what? Well, bust it open my door. They're coming after me and Willow right now. Right now. That's heavy metal, bro. Yeah.
Hey.
Where is she? I don't know.
Chapter 4: What themes are explored in the film 'One Battle After Another'?
I gotta charge my phone to find out. Here, use my phone. I can't. They'll trace that phone. I gotta use my phone. Let's do that at my place. We gotta go. Your place? Yeah. You got a gun at your place? I'll get you a gun. You have a gun, right? Okay? Yes. Okay. Right now, it's a goddamn roundup. I gotta deal with this shit. Okay. Yeah. I just take that to go. Let's go to your place.
Let's go to your place. I'll charge my phone. You got a gun there? Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob. What? Get up. That's a tummy. Okay? Listen. Breathe. All right. Okay? Cool out. Ocean waves. Ocean waves. Let's go. Let's go. I'll follow you.
In the year 2000, Benicio del Toro received the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Traffic. In that movie, he portrayed a Mexican police officer forced to decide whether to uphold justice or compromise his ethics in a corrupt system. In this iconic scene, he meets up with United States DEA agents. They want information about his new boss, a corrupt drug pin.
Del Toro's character is nervous when he meets up with the agents in a car at a parking garage. So he suggests they change locations and have the meeting in a public place, a hotel's swimming pool.
I believe it's important that we work together, Mexico and the United States, one hand watching the other. We agree. So maybe you can tell me about your informants in our operations.
Yes.
We thought that maybe you'd have that kind of information for us. This is a very different proposition, my friend. We pay for that kind of information. Is that what you're talking about, Javier? Getting paid?
Do you like baseball? A lot. We need lights for the parks. So kids can play at night. So it's safe. So they can play baseball. So they don't become burros para los malones. Everybody like baseball. Everybody likes parks. Listen. I believe it's important that the United States, they can interest in Tijuana now. That's what I'm talking about, my friends.
Del Toro's breakout role in 1995 was as a small-time crook in The Usual Suspects. He went on to play the drug-fueled lawyer Dr. Gonzo, starring alongside Johnny Depp in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. And he won Best Actor at Cannes for his role as Che Guevara in Che. His other films include Basquiat and 21 Grams, and he starred in the Showtime series Escape from Donnemora.
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Chapter 5: How does Benicio del Toro describe his character Zsa Zsa Korda in 'The Phoenician Scheme'?
I don't know, I guess. Yeah, he did mention it at some point. But it was really strange because it was like, where did that come from? And, you know, I never did any acting. How I fell into acting was like this. I went to San Diego, University of California, San Diego, my freshman year. And you could make your own schedules. And I decided, wow, I can make it really easy for me.
I could just hang around and ride a bike around and just... Hang about, you know. And there was an acting class. I think it was called Acting 101, just like that. And I said, how can I fail that? And if there's homework, it's going to be watching movies, which I already do. So it looked pretty easy to me. So I went in, and the teacher said that...
Everyone here is 18 years old or 19, and that's the right age to study acting because you have a little bit of an understanding already about life. And so this is the right age to study it. And that clicked. That was kind of like... I still remember it. And the feeling was like, there's a logic to this. There's a science to this. And also the fact like, am I on time?
I thought if you were an actor, you had to be born into acting. And just like a musician, you need to start playing when you're like,
Eight or nine.
You need to come from a family of musicians or you need to come from a family of theater people and actors. And it was kind of strange that it was like, hey, this is the right time to start. And I took the class and then I started realizing that there was a logic to it. You can study it and you can get better.
You mentioned your godmother, Sarah Torres Peralta. She was also your mom's really good friend. She's the big reason that you came from Puerto Rico here to the States to go to private boarding school in Pennsylvania.
Yes.
How different was Pennsylvania from your life in Puerto Rico?
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