by: John Rodriguez
A visionary when it comes to dark and somewhat macabre films, Mexican writer, director, and producer Guillermo del Toro has brought as imaginative and socially historical films like Pan’s Labyrinth (2003) and The Devil’s Backbone (2001) including the popular Hellboy series. Despite his creditable filmography, Del Toro has encountered some road blocks when it comes to bringing his ideas and image to the bring screen. While the past three years have somewhat been horrifying for Del Toro in-regards to being behind the camera, Del Toro is not defeated when he encounters failure or setbacks.
With films like Pan’s Labyrinth and the Hellboy series under his belt, Del Toro on the behalf of Peter Jackson had been attached to the direct the Hobbit movies which will be the prequels to The Lord of the Rings trilogy. But after MGM declared bankruptcy, the project was neglected and as a result Del Toro left the project. A second dealing gone wrong proved to be a lesson for Del Toro.
On the verge of bringing H.P. Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness to the big screen, del Toro spent a year on it before the project was canned by Universal. “I’ve learned the way over the last three years that careers are what happens when you’re making other plans,” said Del Toro, “I can only gauge success as screwing up on your terms. That’s the only way I can understand it.”
While some of the projects he personally invests in do not truly get the green light, it is something that Del Toro is content with, “If you succeed playing by the rules of Hollywood, it’s not really success. You’re being given a dog treat,” preferring to use his own mind and creative input into projects than simply wait for or even beg for unexciting projects. And it is his mind, his vision that makes him a sought-out director in Hollywood where he doesn’t need to wait for a project to be given to him.
Currently, Del Toro is working on a big-budget film Pacific Rim, which has been described as a monster movie. A typically skilled film genre of Del Toro’s, and to add to the list Del Toro earned his the project of his dreams by adapting his take of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein for the big screen. While Del Toro is at work at some dark pieces slated to be released in the near future one film fans of his may never get to see is the third installment in the Hellboy series.
Fans of the comic book-turned-film series may be disappointed to learn that Hellboy 3 currently remains in development lingo. Hellboy himself, Ron Perlman is a disappointed fan, “The story that Guillermo has mapped out for the third one is so epic and so dark and so classic…that it would be a great shame if we never made it.” And like the actor, Del Toro wants to make the film but foresees time being against them, “I’d love to do it before Ron needs Depends, but we are both maturing at an accelerated rate and I don’t know if we are going to get to it in time.”
This Friday you can go to the movies and find the next work of Del Toro when Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, a movie based on the ABC made-for-television horror film, opens up this weekend. The film stars Katie Holmes, Guy Pearce, and Bailee Madison.
