The Oscar winner says the werewolf he portrays and many other dark characters in literature get a bad rap. In a Monday meeting with journalists in Mexico City, he said: "I have always been on the monsters' side."

The movie is directed by Joe Johnston and co-stars Emily Blunt, Anthony Hopkins and Hugo Weaving. It modernizes the myth of the werewolf and adds more blood and violence to the plot.

But del Toro, who also co-produced the film, says there's more to the story: "I see the werewolf as a victim; they always judge him without any understanding."

The film is scheduled for release Feb. 12.