Quick note folks.
Travis made a good point about folks complaining about the output of one Guillermo del Toro in relation to his bigger projects, smaller projects, and how his time is best spent. I have known the Mexican juggernaut for some time and consider him a very close friend. One of the people whose voice on the phone has a therapeutic effect stronger than any drug. I’m on the “inside” and have been lucky to almost make a few films with him and actually make one in a producer-ish capacity. Even at his level, one with Oscars and multimedia success and A-List name recognition, the man has to fight and claw to get things made. It’s why we see him involved in so many things. So few actually make it through the system. To the point where he soberly told me that he feels that “the natural state of a movie is to not be made”. That we’re tempting fate by making them. That’s a very pragmatic and experience-laden opinion and it’s hard not to feel a little crushed in my own little pursuits because the odds are as stacked against us as they are a high school ballplayer hoping for a chance in the majors.
Pacific Rim 2 is happening. And it’ll be amazing. Guillermo is acutely aware of his audience and he’ll make sure that it blows the original away and not by throwing more large things at the screen. But people may not realize that the film he just finished making, Crimson Peak, is what he considers the first “adult” film he’s done in English. It’s going to be a lot more like Cronos, The Devil’s Backbone, and Pan’s Labyrinth. Also, he will very likely make another film before Pacific Rim 2 goes before the lenses. Another smaller, personal film. Add to that FX’s The Strain and whatever other mixed media magic he has in the pipeline and his fans and genre audiences in general will have their cake and eat it too.
I’ve seen the first four episodes of The Strain and it’s pure unfiltered Guillermo (with Chuck Hogan of course). He directed the pilot and it’s totally Guillermo. Totally. It feels like Hellboy, Blade 2, and his Spanish language films had a vigorous fuck and blew a mean wet killer baby onto our TV screen.
The man is making up for the years he lost in New Zealand in a big way.
I do believe that he’s a polarizing figure with our kind. There’s plentiful hype and he’s often a critical darling and he has a very specific approach to making films. It’s not for everyone. But it is for most everyone and from what I know from my little perch at the cusp of the inside there will be a very healthy and very exciting mixture of big and bold Guillermo and small and intimate Guillermo in our lives these next four years. It’s going to be hard to complain.
There’s a tiny little bit of me thrown in there too but I’ll save that for a much later date to share.