Fascinating featurette for Pacific Rim highlights the “torture machine” robot sets

One of the most fascinating aspects of a Guillermo Del Toro film is the in-camera effects he employs. While many filmmakers are utilizing green screens and mo-cap suits for anything and everything, Del Toro takes great pains to lend a sense of reality to his films, making them feel organic and real in something that is obviously not. In this new featurette for PACIFIC RIM, Del Toro talks at length about the “torture machine” robot sets he created, which tested the limits of his cast, especially Charlie Hunnam, Rinko Kikuchi, and Idris Elba. Seeing them all in full mech suits, attached to metallic levers, while dodging sparks and flooding water on a shaking set is pretty cool and I have no doubt it will lend a tremendous sense of realism to this “otherworldly” tale.

Check it out:

I started off kind of lukewarm on PACIFIC RIM, but with all the trailers and the great making-of featurettes we’ve seen so far, I’d say I’m damned excited for this. I think Del Toro will absolutely deliver something that hits the right beats in terms of action, story, and effects, as he’s demonstrated many times before. I expect a rollicking good time.

PACIFIC RIM, starring Charlie Hunnam, Rinko Kikuchi, Idris Elba, Charlie Day, and Ron Perlman suits up on July 12, 2013.