Benicio Del Toro compares himself to Pacino, Denzel & Bogart

I like him. Compared to both Pacino and Washington, I think he's pretty limited, but masterful within his limits. Yes he kept to his screen persona as was the general rule at the time, but so did someone like James Cagney, and you could see far more flexibility and range in Cagney's performances.

But yeah, Bogart was great, but in a more limited fashion. No one would expect him to have the ability to go out and play King Lear on Broadway (which Pacino might have been able to do at one point, and Washington almost certainly will).

Pauline Kael once compared Bogart to Paul Newman in that regard. Neither could play the classics, but within their more limited range, they could hit notes few others could.

Also, might or might not be a controversial opinion, but in his own way, I think Bogart in The Treasure of The Sierra Madre is as good as Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will be Blood.

Also thought he was great in The Caine Mutiny. Wouldn't have given him the Oscar for The African Queen considering the stupendous competition that year (Brando, Douglas, Clift!!), but it was a very good performance, worthy of a nod.

Del Toro is an interesting and fine actor and his Oscar winning role is a great one, although he started to lessen as soon as he won it and he became less distinctive - that was a great role and performance and immediately thereafter his future looked different than what it ended up as.

Washington and Pacino are in some ways virtually interchangeable as acting archetypes - they are fascinating to compare and contrast and for a younger actor they have many aspects that are desirable and not just villains - many similarities, even down to small things like awards they've won and what motivates them to do what they do - sometimes you can see them interviewed and think "Pacino would have said that" or "I could see Washington saying that" - they have crucial differences of course too but they have far more similarities than any of the big name actors one to one - they are in many ways linked and intertwined.

Pacino himself at times was in effect "doing Bogart" (referenced as dialog in Carlito's Way even) and I'm a rather huge Bogart fan and use him as an example of what I like though Nicholson is closer to him than either Pacino or Washington imo, though he was famously shortchanged by Brando as "no great shakes as an actor, but an effective performer"

 Yes. That's pretty much what I said.

But he's also effectively saying, if it's good enough for these 3 legends, it's good enough for me. He's making a comparison from them to him as a talented actor not limited by playing villains. It's not rocket science, and neither a point worth arguing over.

I personally don't think he's as good as Pacino/Denzel, but it's not like it's a laughable comparison. And it's not like Bogart was an all time great dramatic actor or anything, just one of the greatest stars.

Wow, Del Toro really regards Denzel as a major influence in his career. Another interview from The Guardian:

It has been a deliberate choice – and one informed by Denzel Washington. “Denzel is one of those actors who has had to deal with all those stereotypes,” Del Toro says. “It’s an interesting journey. Me being Latino, I’ve looked at his career [to] see how to navigate and take those stereotypes and flip them upside down.”

www.theguardian.com/film/2018/jun/29/people-talk-about-sicario-as-if-its-a-documentary-benicio-del-toro-on-his-new-thriller

It's pretty insane how many major actors, young and old, consider Washington to be the guy to look up to.

He's got to be the most influential actor of his generation. Sean Penn used to get this type of shout-out in the 90's and early 2000's, but it's slowed down a lot as his hype died. Daniel Day-Lewis and Gary Oldman get a lot of hero worship talk to this day, but it's interesting to see seasoned Actors actors like Del Toro and Liam Neeson(who seem close to his generation, or in Neeson's case, older) talk about basing their career choices on what they think Washington might do.