> At a Glance
> – Benicio del Toro told News Of Los Angeles he found Chelsea Handler’s on-stage flirtation “pretty funny” and “pretty sexy”
> – Handler joked she needed him “in room 708 at the Andaz Hotel tonight” during her Jan. 4 Critics Choice Awards monologue
> – Del Toro is riding awards buzz for One Battle After Another, which won Best Picture and Best Director Jan. 4
> > Why it matters: The exchange spotlights del Toro’s surprise awards-season surge 25 years after his Traffic Oscar
The 58-year-old actor was still smiling two days after Chelsea Handler turned the Critics Choice Awards into a public flirt-fest aimed squarely at him.
The On-Stage Moment
During her Jan. 4 opening at the Barker Hangar, Handler praised Leonardo DiCaprio and del Toro for “getting s—faced to get s— done” in One Battle After Another. She then demanded Hollywood cast del Toro in “more movies, more TV shows, in room 708 at the Andaz Hotel tonight.”
Del Toro, seated beside DiCaprio, answered with a cool grin and a nod.
Awards Momentum
- Jan. 4: Critics Choice Awards – nominated for Best Supporting Actor
- Jan. 6: New York Film Critics Circle – won Best Supporting Actor
- Up next: Golden Globe nominee, 25 years after his Traffic win
The Paul Thomas Anderson film also took home Best Picture and Best Director trophies.
What He Said Next
At the New York Film Critics Circle Awards Jan. 6, del Toro told News Of Los Angeles exclusively:
> “I thought it was pretty funny,” adding, “it was pretty sexy.”
In his acceptance speech he thanked DiCaprio and Sean Penn for fighting “very hard to create time so that I could be in One Battle After Another.”
> “It’s an honor to be in a film with those two guys.”
Key Takeaways
- Handler’s hotel-room joke landed well with its target
- Del Toro is collecting hardware on the critics circuit
- The actor credits his co-stars for pushing the project forward
Hollywood’s awards season now has its most unexpected flirtation-and del Toro is laughing all the way to the podium.
