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Del Toro: To Interpret Che Made Me Respect Him More

 

CUBA, December 8, 2008. Puerto Rican actor Benicio del Toro affirmed here that after interpreting Argentine-Cuban guerrilla Ernesto Che Guevara increased his respect for him as historic figure and consistent man. The first time I heard talk about Che I was 11 years old in a song of the Rolling Stones. After I interpreted him I learned a lot, he stressed in a press conference at the Taganana Hall of the Hotel Nacional, venue of the 30th New Latin America Film Festival.   Del Toro expressed his desire that the film contributes to promote Che´s personality in the United States. It is very important to keep widening mental horizons, he said.

I also believe that from the government of new president Barack Obama, a dialogue can be established between both countries.

The Oscar laureate for Traffic (2001) described as sensational to have premiered in Cuba the films where it all began. Our dream, he said, was to finísh and screen it here. Now the cycle has closed.

Answering a question of how would the Argentine-Cuban guerrilla would think today, he said maybe he would be a different person.

We are living moments unthinkable for his time, he said. He put the example o fan indigenous president governing Bolivia now and an Afro-American the United States.

At the time that was a dream, the actor said and added there are still things that have not changad in other parts of the world and in Latin America.

Brazilian Rodrigo Santero, in the role of Raul Castro, said he traveled to the island last year and for two months he looked for advine, he toured the Sierra Maestra mountains and had access to the diary of the current Cuban president. For me it was an enormous responsibility and fills me with pride, commented Santiago Cabrera, who incarnated Camilo Cienfuegos, he told that in order to personify him he read and studied for a long time. I remember to have arrived home with a lot of books, he said.

Producer Alvaro Longoria, of Morena Films, announced the films will premiere in the US on January 8 next year and presented Cuba with 20 copies for their screening. “The Argentinean” and “Guerrilla” were screened twice the past weekend, as part of the Film Festival program and outside in the theater Kart Marx of Havana. (Cubaminrex- PL)

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