Guillermo del Toro - Hellboy 2 - Interview
The fantastical mind of director Guillermo del Toro tapped by Time Out!
Mexican writer, director and producer Guillermo del Toro began his career in the early 90s with the low-budget Spanish-language horror Cronos. The creative spark evident in that film caught the eye of Hollywood and he was commissioned to make creature-feature Mimic. He's since moved back and forth between Hollywood (Blade II, Hellboy) and Spanish-language films (The Devil's Backbone, Pan's Labyrinth). His latest is Hellboy II: The Golden Army and he's now set to direct two films of Tolkien's The Hobbit.
Would you describe Hellboy II as a superhero movie? Up to a point I would say it was a superhero movie, as he's a humanoid entity with incredible powers and has an origin story that's quite pulpy. But it's not in the normal sense. I'm curious to see how the second one is greeted by audiences, as I think it's much more beautiful and crazy than the first one.
The creatures in the film feel like they could have wandered over from the world of Pan's Labyrinth. Without realising, I found I was holding back a little bit with the first Hellboy and I think this movie belongs more in my universe.
Is animation a direction you'd be interested in exploring? I was actually planning on creating an animation studio this year. Everything was ready and about to be signed off, and then The Hobbit came along and interrupted things. But two years from now, you're going to have an animated film by me. The Hobbit is going to be such a behemoth that I have to clear the table as much as I can.
Your previous film, The Orphanage was advertised as ‘a Guillermo del Toro presentation'. Are you happy with becoming a brand? I'm happy as long as it's used in that way. If, all of a sudden, I was presenting movies that I didn't believe in, I'd slip on the fishnet stockings and fully prostitute myself. I've been making movies for 15 years, and I have only presented one movie that I've been comfortable with. I hope to present one or two movies every year, but only if I feel strongly about them. I love producing other people's work, but presenting is a very serious business. It's a marriage.
Are you pleased that you're making The Hobbit? Yes, I'm ecstatic. I feel like a guy about to go on a strange and dangerous trip to a country that is so exotic and beautiful.
Have you plans for any more Spanish-language films? I don't know if it's Spanish language or not, but I'm writing a smaller movie. One of ‘the strange ones' as I like to call them. It's called Saturn and the End of Days and it's about a boy called Saturn who watches the end of the world from an everyday point of view. The kid is there when the world ends and you see it from his eyes.
Like a kind of Omega Man for kids? That's not a bad description. It's seeing the apocalypse from the eyes of a child.
Read Time Out's review of Hellboy II - The Golden Army