Most, if not all, of us here are distinct and die-hard fans of Guillermo del Toro. Also known in certain circles as the Messiah of Movie Monsters.
So rather than go on and on about who he is and what he does and just how well he does it and how excited I am for anything and everything he’s going to do next, it makes more sense to me to just go ahead and let the man speak for himself. And so, without further ado, here are a gamut of quotations that cover not only his writing process and how it relates to his return to smaller filmmaking, but most of the big-profile projects he has coming up.
Would he shoot the potential sequel to PACIFIC RIM in 3D: “Yes. Provided, at that point, that the technology is becoming easier and easier…”
How PACIFIC RIM’s 3D came to be: “…even then they were super respectful. By then we were already getting ILM shots. I was realizing that out of 100 shots, maybe 10% of the shots were risky. They said, “If we go 2D on those shots, we can do it.” Then I gave them my list of conditions. They spent twice of what they normally spend on [this process], because they gave me the chance to pay ILM to do every single shot in native 3D. They aren’t being converted. So all the big 3D effects shots are being done by ILM from the get go. Normally they give a movie a 14 to 16 week conversion time [for 3D]. I started the conversion back in September. So it’s six months for conversion. It’s very classy.”
When he might return to making smaller films: “… it’s not like I have two screenplays under my bed. I successfully reached page 25 for Saturn and the End of Days and on another [script] I have successfully reached page 45. Those things take years to write. Devil’s Backbone was like 15 years it took me to make. Pan’s Labyrinth it took me two or three years to solve the screenplay. I work on them but they are trickier propositions. As soon as I finish the screenplay to one of them, I’ll leave everything I have to go make it.”
Where HAUNTED MANSION is in the pipeline: “HAUNTED MANSION is very much alive and in process. Disney is very supportive and we are doing another draft of the screenplay… Yet another draft… And they really want to do it. I know we’re going to talk about other possible directors, for me to produce, and having written it, produce it for somebody else.
It’s going to be scary. Hopefully it will be fun scary, rather than funny scary. It’s going to be fun but the idea is to make it scary like when you go through the ride as the kid – part of you is charmed and part of you wants to get out of there.”
On a similar note, where BEAUTY AND THE BEAST starring Emma Watson is in terms of development: “We just got the first draft from Andrew Davies, who wrote some BBC Charles Dickens miniseries, to great effect, including two of my favorites of his – ‘Little Dorrit’ and ‘Bleak House.’ I love his work. So we just got it. I’m doing a pass myself and then we’ll send it to the studio for reactions.”
Those excerpts are, of course, far from the full extent of goodness Guillermo drops during the course of the whole interview. Should you have the time (and if you don’t, you should make the time), I’d strongly suggest heading on over here to read the rest of what the man has to say. You won’t be disappointed.
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