A few months ago I went to one of Bafta's Life in Pictures events with Guillermo del Torro, the Mexican director of Pan's Labyrinth and Hellboy. Bafta have now put 30 minutes of highlights on their website and if you're a fan of Del Toro, his films or creative swearing it's well worth watching.
He talks with the critic Jason Wood about his early filmmaking attempts in Mexico, his battles with Weinsteins over his Hollywood debut Mimic, his visionary work on Pan's Labyrinth and of course his new film, Hellboy II.
I'd previously seen Del Toro at a Q&A following a screening of Pan's Labyrinth and was struck by how joyfully profane his language is. This man has a wonderfully foul mouth. One of my favourite moments at the Bafta event (sadly cut from the video) was Del Toro's response to an audience member's question about his forthcoming adaptation of The Hobbit. The director conceded that it was a big task, especially since he'll be working with and following in the hairy footsteps of Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson. He likened this relationship to marrying a widow: "You have to respect the memory of the husband but you know that at some point you're going to have to fuck her". Nicely put.
The event concluded with a peak at the Hellboy 2 trailer. I enjoyed re-watching the first one on TV on Sunday and I'm looking forward to seeing the new one tomorrow. From the trailer it does look like our hero gets besieged by Pan's Labyrinth extras and Luke from Bros. I can't wait.
Related links
Guillermo del Toro: A Life in Pictures - watch the event
Guillermo del Toro Films - fan site
Bafta Events - almost all are open to the public
3 comments:
Saw Helboy II last night. Very entertaining, better than the first one and more enjoyable than The Dark Knight.
Del Toro though...for some reason I imagined him to be some sort of well dressed sexy Latin intellectual. That photo makes him look like some hideous combination of Michael Moore, Peter Jackson and Danny Kelly.
No, he's an hombre who likes a taco and a Tecate.
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