Guillermo del Toro talks the style, shooting and schedule of The Strain

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Yesterday Guillermo del Toro talked about a trailer and possible sequel for PACIFIC RIM. Now he’s done some lip flapping over at MTV in regards the FX television adaptation of THE STRAIN, which is based on the novel he co-wrote with Chuck Hogan. First, the conversation touched on projected shooting schedules and a possible window of release for the vampire epic:

“We’re planning to shoot the pilot in August. Pacific Rim comes out in July. Right after Pacific Rim we go into pilot shooting. We are already prepping the pilot starting next week. The pilot has been approved so it’s green-lit. It’s not a matter of if; it’s a matter of when. Our expectations are for FX to move ahead with the series next fall and winter and for the series to air in 2014.”

Next, Del Toro addressed the style and tone of THE STRAIN, specifically plans to meld his vividly detailed horror landscapes with a gritty, documentary shooting style:

“Basically I’m trying to do what I do in my movies, which is to show it as a reality, but as a reality that is stylized. It’s not like ‘CSI’ or ‘The Wire’; it’s real, but it feels a little stylized. But the way the camera work will be is very realistic. We want to keep the camera very documentary even if the look of the show is not. The look of the show is very designed. The style of the camera and the storytelling will be very loose. It will evolve from that feel of reality, and little by little we want to evolve into a more stylish, horror feel that requires smoother camera moves, more suspense and atmosphere-driven moments so it will be a mixture. I don’t think that mixture has been seen a lot on TV.”

THE STRAIN started out as a literary dream project for the Spanish director. Del Toro spent several years developing the mythos and writing the trilogy (THE STRAIN, THE FALL, and THE NIGHT ETERNAL) with Chuck Hogan and had previously attempted to cross pollinate the concept into a TV show in 2009. Now that it’s definitely back on at FX and getting the go-ahead, we should probably start preparing for a vampire apocalypse to hit basic cable in 2014.