TIFF 2015: Canadian director says 'Sicario' FBI role written for woman

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Director Denis Villeneuve said it was important to fill the role of aggressive FBI agent by a woman.

In his latest film, Sicario, he casts Emily Blunt as an idealistic, but tough-as-nails FBI agent, who with two shadowy government ops, plot a high-risk, cross-border sting against a Mexican drug cartel boss.

“The role was written for a female,” Villeneuve said on the red carpet Friday night at his TIFF premiere at the Princess of Wales Theatre. “We thought it was essential for a woman. There are not a lot of good parts for a woman in movies today. I love to give them space.”

Sicario – “hitman” in Spanish – is a gritty drug-war thriller by the Quebec director, who is riding off the success of both Prisoners and Enemy in 2013.

“Every scene is a challenge,” Villeneuve said. “There is a scene that takes place on a bridge in a battle between Mexico and the Americas that requires a lot of thinking, because we weren’t allowed to shoot there, so we had to figure out a way to approach this place.”

Benicio Del Toro, who alongside Josh Brolin, plays a mysterious government official whose role and rank are undisclosed.

“I felt the script was very original,” Del Toro said. “At the same time, it’s original for me. I’ve played lots of characters related to the war on drugs. His main motivation is revenge. It’s a movie that is going to grab you and shake you a little bit, entertain you a bit and maybe make you think a little bit too.”

Blunt, who began filming this project four months after the birth of her first child and entering the nurturing role of motherhood, said she sympathized with the hardened character she plays because “to see somebody’s relative self get stripped away from them is a sad thing to see.”

Jenny.yuen@sunmedia.ca