Cannes 2015: ‘Sicario’ Cast Talks Tackling the War on Drugs (Video)

The castmembers of Denis Villeneuve‘s Sicario shared their thoughts on the film’s sensitive subject matter during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter at the Cannes Film Festival.

“Declaring war on drugs with violence — fighting the violence of drugs with violence — has been explored now for some time. It’s not going anywhere,” said Benicio Del Toro. “We need to explore the road of legalizing some of these drugs. It’s a little bit more complicated than just saying it here, but it needs to be explored.”

Villeneuve added that the crime thriller likely will ruffle some feathers, given its focus on the highly disputed drug trade. “We’re gonna raise questions about that idea that America thinks that it can solve problems outside of its border with strong violence,” he said.

“I think all it does is spark debate,” Josh Brolin said about the film. “This is a hypothetical, and that’s all it is.”

Brolin also shared that attending Cannes for the premiere of a film he was sincerely invested in made for a completely new festival experience. “We’re proud of this movie,” he noted.

Sicario‘s lead actress, Emily Blunt, said that the moral conflict the characters all find themselves entangled in is “the best part” of the film. On her own onscreen character, Blunt said: “She offers a sort of perspective like the audience in many ways because she’s as in the dark as you are watching the film,” before jokingly adding, “It’s a film that is fairly uncompromising about offering you no information.”