Back in the day, Benicio del Toro used to be one of my imaginary boyfriends. It started for me with The Usual Suspects and ended shortly after his Oscar win for Traffic and subsequent multi-year disappearance from Hollywood. It wasn’t that he started looking bad (okay, he wasn’t as hot as before), but it was more like I kind of forgot about him.

Benicio is trying to re-enter Hollywood with a big-budget, effects-driven film called Wolfman, also starring Emily Blunt and Anthony Hopkins. These photos are from the German photocall, as the promotional tour for this film is just gearing up (the American release is February 12). Now… I don’t remember Benicio looking like this. Yes, sure he had his not-so-hot moments in the past… but he just looks rough here. Like he’s been out of the game for too long, I guess. Who am I kidding? I’d probably still hit it.

Meanwhile, a lot of people are starting to wonder if Wolfman is going to bomb. It’s a film remake about a dude who gets bitten by a wolf in the 1820s, et cetera. You know the drill. Man becomes wolf, grows hair in special places, blah, blah. It was supposed to be released last fall, but it needed reshoots or more effects or something. So, will it bomb? And will Benicio’s lack of old-school hotness be a factor?

Here’s the second HD trailer. I swear to God, I thought I saw Gollum in a fast cut:

Benicio del Toro and Emily Blunt at a photocall in Germany for ‘Wolfman’ on January 25, 2010. Credit: WENN.