Benicio Del Toro Confirms Episode VIII Role. He Starts Filming in March!
The Puerto Rican actor and producer Benicio Del Toro is in Spain promoting his new movie A Perfect Day. During an interview with a local radio station, the actor pretty much confirmed his rumored involvement with Episode VIII. He also revealed what type of character he is playing, and when he is expected to start filming.
You can listen to the whole interview in Spanish at www.rac1.org. However here’s an English transcript, done by one of our Cantina members Altgr0160:
Interviewer: And are you going to shoot something after that?
Benicio Del Toro: No, just… *pause* Star Wars is coming up, we will see how that turns out. I think we start shooting in March.
Interviewer: And what’s your role in this new Star Wars chapter?
Benicio: Ehhh…. the thing is…. They don’t let me talk too much about it, I’m like the villain.
Interviewer: Oh wow!
Benicio: But…. we’ll see…*laughs*
And here’s a bit of clarification from Altgr0160 on the translation:
When Benicio explains that his role is the villain he doesn’t seem to be 100% sure. He says “es como el villano”, “he is like the villain”. Which is odd. If he was sure about it he would have said: “es el villano”, “he is the villain”. This could mean three things:
- His character seems to be a villain but actually isn’t.
- He wanted to sort of discredit himself by adding doubt to his statements. (the most likely option)
- He really isn’t sure about the details of his character, and he is just saying what he has been told “he is like the villain”.
Benicio Del Toro is huge talent and his addition to the cast is another great move by Rian Johnson, Kathleen Kennedy and the Lucasfilm team. He won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award and a BAFTA Award for his role in Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic (2000)!
Special thanks to our reader Marc Valiente for sending the interview.
Founder of SWNN, MNN and The Cantina forums.
Born on April 24, 1980.
He is a fantastic actor, and the idea of bringing in a new villain with Snoke and Kylo Ren already being established is exciting to imagine. I love Rian Johnson’s work too, so this all adds up to good news.
Absolutely, he is almost a chameleon in certain roles.
And with that gravely voice, he’ll be a great addition to the Star Wars Universe.
I’m actually hoping he becomes a vital character!
Reaffirms my theory that Kylo Ren dies in episode 7, aka darth maul
” I don’t think so. “
He’s a Solo/Skywalker and won’t die in ep 7 🙂
I’m looking forward to his performance in this movie. At first I was not sure how I felt about him but now I’m totally on board with it. I hope he is a villain!
Nice!
Wonder if he’s a Ren knight or a Sith Lord,could be a leader in one of the other Imperial offshoots if any are about…
This is pretty awesome
I accidentally tapped report. Very sorry!
Fuck, me too.
Awesome!
I’m thinking he won’t be a main villain, more like an agitator. Jabba like, but with a bigger role.
Agreed. He will be like general veers or Jabba. My guess is Hux will die TFA, but this new villain will still answer to Snoke.
Soooooo, kind of like the Collector in Guardians of the Galaxy…
I think he will start villainous but turn. Maybe a bit like a Lando scenario, a battle of conscious that helps in the end.
Of course he will be 50 soon so could he be Boba? Boba in AOTC is 10. Plus 25 Years to ESB / ROTJ plus 30 years for TFA. Probably not
Yes, I have a feeling he is the criminal underbelly of this trilogy.
What a treat. Adam Driver is good actor , but never has a gravity as true villain. Benicio can become new First Order enforcer stretching into Episode 9. Incredible casting.
Driver is only 32, hasn’t had many chances to shine on the big screen, so to compare him to Del Toro, pushing 50, isn’t really fair. I have confidence driver can pull off an ominous baddie performance with authority
i suspect driver is gonna be BRUTAL and badass as kylo. not sure why people are dismissing his potential. the guy is alil different, alil “off” (not dissing him, hell im alil off lol) but i think he has a great persona to pull off a villain. he’s primed for it.
driver is gonna surprise a lot of people
With him possibly being the ep 8 villain, I have a huge amount of fear that Kylo is going to meet the same fate as Maul- one and done- which would be an awful move by Disney. Doesn’t anyone learn from past mistakes!?!?
LOL, why don’t you chill out and watch the movie first? ^_-
I disagree. Who said killing off Maul was a mistake? The Maul storyline and his epic death was actually the best part of TPM.
Killing him off was not the problem. The problem with Maul is that they didn’t use him well. We have no reason to fear him or care he dies, he is awesome looking but an ineffective menace.
There’s also Fett that ended up getting killed off rather quickly (and pathetically might I add) yet we don’t see a lot of people being loud and vocal about this now, do we?
Let’s keep some perspective about characters and their purpose to the overall story now, shall we (and not question one decision yet ignore a similar decision in another area)?
And FYI, Maul still has a large following and continues to be a popular character despite being in one movie (similar like Boba Fett (and many members of this camp, although some aren’t necessarily complaining that he was “killed off” in one movie, but more so that they admire him so much that they wanted to see him return in some form of media)). Heck, the character is so popular that he was brought back later on in TCW (kind of like a lot of fans continue to persist that Boba wasn’t killed after all when he went into the Sarlacc Pitt, that he survived that after all and escape (even though that hasn’t been shown to us yet but we’re expecting this to be shown to us in the future)); call this the Boba Fett effect.
@Maz:
Killing him off in TPM was a problem.
So many people believe Maul should’ve been developed to become his own version of Vader in the PT. He should’ve died in ROTS.
So I guess we’re going continue to ignore Fett ‘s quick exit and still continue with putting focus on Maul’s exit, huh? Talk about bias and movie favoritism.
And the end of the day, it’s not our story. Someone else is telling us fans the story and we hair have to go with whatever decisions they make in their story, whether we like it or not.
Fett’s ‘quick exit’ was fine because was, literally, a disposable character. Just because fandom became enamored with him doesn’t change that.
Maul, on the other hand, was the principle antagonist of an entire film but poorly developed because of reasons that include his ‘quick exit’.
No, they’re not the same thing. Nice try.
The movie’s subtitle is “The Phantom Menace”. That should tell you something regarding the story and the situation; there’s a reason that movie is called that that has to do with the reason why Maul was a principle antagonist for that movie and only for that movie (notice I said “a” principal antagonist and not “the” because obviously there was more, and a more “menacing” one at that (see what I just did there?)); heck, it’s even debatable to even consider him a principal antagonist as there was still the Trade Federation and Sidious. The character served its purpose for that movie and the for the overall story; whether you agree with it or not is your problem.
Nice try though 😉 (though ultimately we may just have to agree to disagree)
P.S. I don’t recall seeing a lot of backlash and outrage back in 1999 about Maul’s departure; why the sudden nerdrage about this matter from certain fans now? Lol
You argument doesn’t track at all. The nature of the plot has nothing to do with Maul’s weakness contributing to the the overall weakness of the film/trilogy.
For that matter, yes there WAS criticism about Maul’s lack of depth and perfunctory exit back the the film came out. It was actually one of the first criticisms about the film, like, ever. Sorry, you’re not catching anyone in a ‘gotcha’ trap with any of this.
Yeah, sorry, you’re not fooling me or a majority of the people here. You’re not having the last laugh. I think a good amount of people here will disagree with you, especially since there are a lot of movie franchises where there’s a new antagonist in every movie (see Fast and Furious series as an example). That kind of criticism is hard to believe to come onto here when everyone else had a similar rhyme scheme (and you can’t all of a sudden apply a completely different criticism rubric to SW movies that differ from criticism rubrics for other movies; that would be unfair to apply special rules to SW movies just because it’s Star Wars). Yeah, you might say that we can’t really compare the SW franchise with other movie franchise but my point still stands.
But whatever, to each their own.
I really don’t know what you’re on about. Nothing we just talked about has anything to do you what just just wrote.
Man, people still trying to grasp for straws even after they’ve been put in check. Smh [like people such as Anon 21:27 PM]
Ok
For those true fans, and those able to read, we know that Darth Maul didn’t die when Obi One cut him in half. Second, the rumor mill is George Lucas had a script for a movie about Fett, his years as a bounty hunter and his rise to importance on Mandalore
Dude..it was a 2v1 lightsaber duel in an enclosed area..someone was going to get hurt/die..and in that case both happened lol. Besides Maul’s storyline in the clone wars was epic and really did the character justice in having a bigger roll in the franchise.
Maul wasn’t the primary anything, the Trade Federation was very much the primary enemy. Maul was a secondary threat and his usage as such was fine. People just like to be revisionist with Maul the same way they are with Fett. They “look” like they have rich histories and backgrounds, which they SHOULD look like. But they are very much the same type of character, used in the exact same way, and put aside once their purpose was done and the story no longer needed them. They are both the very definition of “secondary villains.” The fandom is what built them up to be more than that.
Um yeah, the fandom, and the fact that the merchandizing put his fucking face on everything from bicycles to toothbrushes. Maul was the marketing face of TPM, he was on all the toy packages. Of course people went in expecting he was the primary villain.
You can’t say it was fandom building up a minor character. We were made to think that way. It wasn’t like Boba in ESB.
Ever heard of red herrings?
P.S. There’s a reason why the movie was called “The Phantom Menace”.
Give me a break. You guys can twist anything to suit your opinions.
The entire marketing strategy for TPM wasn’t a red herring. For starters, everybody knew Palpatine was the eventual villain. There was no reason for deception in the marketing.
More likely that they wanted to push the character that looked cool to sell merchandise.
Maul wasn’t the menace!!
Exactly! Some people continue to forget the purpose of the character and the overall story being told. #misunderstandings
It’s unfortunate that some continue to question this even though Maul served its purpose for the story in that movie (& overall for that trilogy). If folks are going to keep questioning this move, then why don’t we also question why Tarkin was killed off in ANH, why Boba Fett had so little screen time in ESB (with a few lines) and subsequently killed off in ROTJ (pathetically might I say (& with no lines other than a scream)), why Jabba was killed of right away in ROTJ and not included and shown more in ANH (minus that added scene in the SE) and ESB, etc? It’s hypocrite to continue questioning Maul’s screen time and “death” in TPM when the OT had plenty of other baddies who had little screen time and/or were killed off rather quickly yet we don’t see many complaining and bein loud and vocal about it (save a few regarding Boba and even then it’s not much).
There was no interweb back then.
I think the difference is that in the OT Vader was always there as the primary antagonist. The PT didn’t have that. Palpatine was in the background pulling strings but wasn’t an antagonist on the level of Vader until Episode 3. People really craved that presence that Maul and Dooku didn’t deliver.
On a side note, I think that was one of the reasons ROTS was better received, the emergence of Sidious.
Kylo’s on all the toy packaging. He’s being billed as a character unlike anything we’ve seen in Star Wars. That’ll take time to explore. No way he’s one-and-done.
Darth maul’s red and black skin was all episode ones merchandise.
…including the toy packaging. Lamest excuse ever.
This pretty much confirms that Kylo Ren is one and done in episode 7!
I doubt it. More likely Phasma or Hux bites it than Kylo.
No. Gwendoline Christie is signed for three movies….
Correct about Phasma, Kylo will be around for the trilogy
Hux will go in AFT. Phasma is confirmed to return
in Episode8 by Kennedy. Kylo will become 2nd villain and could redeem himself in the end.
Plagueis confirmed!
Na I’m hoping that is Snoke’s true identity
That makes sense. He appears in 8 because Kylo and Snoke suceeded to resurect him in 7
VIII’s gonna kill VII just wait ‘n’ see!
There is something about this guys under-eyes that screams Sebastian Shaw to me. When Luke removed Vader’s helmet Shaw had those same puffy wrinkled under-eyes. Makes me wonder if we will see older Vader resurrected again.
No way, that’s stupid
His under-eyes look like Shaw’s so he could be playing Old Anakin? I’ve seen some pretty sketchy connections between new cast members and old, but this one takes it to a whole other level. Yowza.
Great casting call! Loved him in Guardians of the Galaxy, despite the smaller role he had. I can’t wait to see what happens next! Hopefully he is one of the Knights of Ren–speaking of which, I hope in Episode 9 we see every member of the Knights (Kylo, Snoke, etc.) vs. whoever will become the new Jedi!
Please be Thrawn!
Please not. These movies have so much potential, why ruin that by basing them on such terrible stories?
Khan?!
THHHHRRAAAAAAWWWWWNNNNN!!! >8’C
Pepe the King Prawn?
Hahaha fucking lold at Pepe
He’s a great actor and I always enjoy seeing him on screen, but I prefer more unknown actors in Star Wars. I’m worried I’m just gonna think of him in Usual Suspects the whole time.
Prefer solely unknown actors too, but I think the majority will be unknown actors while Benicio del Toro will be an exception. He is a great actor, so I am pleased that he was cast in VIII.
I am literally so excited this is finally happening. Grand Admiral Thrawn played by Benicio Del Toro. If you put his photo side by side with Thrawns and compare its almost as though they are twins. Not to mention he practically let this slip in the interview and the title of this article says `confirms`. To all those who said it would never happen, how you feel now eh ? humbled.
I predict Yuuzhan Vong in episode 8 as a minor faction.
There’s a photo of Thrawn somewhere? Seriously, I hope not, I have high expectations of these movies and what you’re suggesting sounds terrible…
Did we read the same interview? Where did he even remotely suggest he was playing Thrawn?
Right there in the second paragraph, right before he confirmed Halflife 3.
Vong?…No way, no how. They are more reviled than anything in the PT. That will never ever happen.
Awesome.
Can’t wait. He sounds excited for this role. Hopefully he is a villain. What if snoke works under him?!? Lol
Two theories:
Luke totally goes off on Kylo while saving Finn & Rey and he deforms him (a
la palpatine/emperor in ROTS) and Benicio is Kylo Ren which will turn him more into the person he’s trying to be like possibly (Vader/grandpa) Since he says he’s sort of a villain it could mean after battling Rey & the heroes he’s conflicted and Snoke (Darth Plagueis) is the true villain.
OR
he’s a totally new character. Which seems more likely.
I hope he fights with Snoke and reclaim the hair of the dark side of the force.
What’s the “hair of the dark side”? Is that like a wig or something?
i think its a kind of evil dark side moustache?
Lando was “like a villain” in ESB. Maybe del Toro’s character has a redemption arc.
This is a great day for us Puerto Rican Star Wars fans!! I met him once and he’s great person and excellent actor, I’m sure he will do great!!
i want to see Episode 7 first than i’ll see where this trilogy is going.
Are these movies just completely unrelated now? I am seeing posts for new female leads and new villains and I cant help but feel scared that their going to be completely disconnected stories. Say what you want about Lucas, at least he drafted a cohesive outline that followed the next generation of skywalkers. (according to his biographer who read drafts of seven eight and nine years ago, and Timothy Zahn who spoke at length with Lucas about his plans to continue to story) Back then the story included Luke having children, and them becoming Jedi.
We don’t know anything. For all we know if the original trilogy was filmed today we would have new male lead as the headline for casting of Lando. New female lead doesn’t mean a replacement for what happens in TFA. Same with Del Toro. We have no idea who he will play or what his role will be. There is no reason to believe, based on this casting and other news, that the Episodes will not be connected as the original and prequel trilogies were.
They have said these aren’t stand alone projects either. Those are Rogue One and the Han Solo film.
no fear, in empire strikes back they added new characters(as Lando and Boba Fett), but the episodes weren’t unrelated 😉
Yes. GL has said that Star Wars is about the Skywalker bloodline. If TFA veers from that, it will be a major disappointment.
I have no doubt that one of the leads is a Skywalker, the name alone is iconic.
Im glad they casted this guy. He is awesome… to me star wars peeps are doing a great job casting roles… some are going to well known people, and some going to first timers, or almost new ones before they have become popular like they did with Daisy and John…. This guy will make a great villian..
Paint him blue, add red eyes and he’ll look just like Thrawn.
dont know what to think, he doesnt fit somehow, like i couldnt see him in the OT, but i guess this is the new star wars so we will see.
He will rule the sequel trilogy
Filming in March seems a bit late. That’s just 14 months before release. TFA started filming 18-19 months prior to release. Unless he’s just doing a few days at the end of the schedule. A tease for Ep. IX?
He just said *he* starts in March. Other actors can start earlier.
Good news! Very cool to have him in Star Wars!
The emperor is only spoke about in ANH and a hologram in ESB so the main leader doesnt have to be in TFA, so del toro could be the mainman in epviii and it helps that he is creepy looking
heE’s SO MUCH NOT THRAWN. I see him either as a smuggler, or some Imperial officer that fights.
I hope he has a bigger role here than he does in the MCU. His talents have been pretty much wasted thus far as the collector.
If Benecio isn’t full on lead, nasty villain that his potential is wasted. He was wasted as the collector. He should be a Ren and wield a lightsaber.
Apologies accidentally hit report
Benicio The Bull is playing Darth Vegas.
I’ll let ya’ll connect the dots.
#PowerOfPlagueis
;o)
“I can’t stand that fantastic note. When the rabbit bites his own head off, I want you to throw that fucking radio into the tub with me.”
Wait, I figured it out. Disney owns Marvel and Lucasfilm, so he is going to be reprising his roll as Taneleer Tivan, the Collector, from Thor: The Dark World and Guardians of the Galaxy.
“like the villain” – maybe he means like Kylo, a Knight Of Ren, but higher up the ladder.
My guess is he’s a villain like Boba Fett. Not aligned with the First Order, but someone that brings trouble for our heroes nonetheless.
So here’s the compiled list of villains for Star Wars:
– disabled Sith Lord (Vader)
– Senior citizen Sith Lord (the Emperor)
– Native Sith Lord (Maul)
– Senior citizen Sith Lord, again (Dooku)
– fucked up loved-crazed youngster Sith Lord (Anakin/Vader)
– fucked up youngster, again (Kylo Ren)
– Episode VIII: Mexican-American baddie (whoever Del Toro plays)
– Episode IX…mentally-retarded down syndrome supervillain?
Del Toro isn’t Mexican. In fact the above article actually states he is Puerto Rican.
I swear sometimes wonder if you guys are bordering on illiterate, or just have really bad short-term memory.
I don’t know Spanish, but could the “like” just be filler language? Similar to the way English speakers sometimes use “like.”
Benicio Del Toro is a fantastic actor.
Will be a great addition for Star Wars unlike John Boyega who’s a total loser.
lol, I like this blog!
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Grand Admiral Thrawn please
Please keep that Zahn drivel away from the canon.
SPOILER WARNING
To me, “like the villain” sounds like “also a Knight of Ren”. Just sayin’…
Possible I suppose, but I doubt Del Toro knows that much at this point. He probably doesn’t know anything about the Knights of Ren.
Interesting how they killed the comments section on the Boyega article. The Death of free speech begins with Star Wars in America.
We don’t typically get new villains halfway thru the Sagas do we? I feel like JJ is just casting people he almost cast in Star Trek.
#ivthelastjedi
The main problem is that Adam Driver is not as talented vocally as Ian McDiarmid or JE Jones.
Sweet, sweet Mary…
“So you made a deal with that shit ? Huuunhunn”
“It’s ok, he’s just admiring the shape of your skull!”
_”As your attorney, I advise you to take a hit out of the little brown bottle in my shaving kit.”
_”FINISH YOUR F*****G STORY !!”
“We can’t stop here! This is bat country!!”