Del Toro’s career has produced some of the most unforgettable movies ever made,
and it began in the
Guillermo del Toro Gomez was born in Guadalajara, Mexico in 1964,
to his father Federico, a wealthy businessman, and his mother Guadalupe, an amateur poet.
They raised their son in a strict Catholic household, but young Guillermo quickly developed a taste for the macabre.
'The carcass of a creature confirms the existence of a living specimen,
in the same way I think monsters confirm the otherness.'
He taught himself English by reading fright magazines, experimented with fake blood and movie makeup,
and raised dozens of snakes, rats, and other creepy crawlies in his family’s mansion.
He devoured horror of all kinds, but his obsession focused on one film in particular:
After shooting spooky short films with his father’s Super 8 camera, Guillermo enrolled in film school,
where he quickly learned that he would have to create his own path to success.
In 1985, del Toro founded Necropia, Mexico’s first dedicated special effects house,
and made a name for himself in Mexico City’s cinema scene.
In 1993, Guillermo released ‘Cronos,’ his first feature film and his first of many
collaborations with actor Ron Perlman.
But just as he was poised to make his big studio debut,
his family was faced with a tragedy that forced the director into
At least one good thing came out of shooting the sensual body horror film ‘Mimic.’
It’s where Guillermo met actor/contortionist Doug Jones,
who would later portray Abe Sapien, the Faun, and the Asset.
Sadly, that’s about the only bright spot of the production. Del Toro disowned the film
after constant clashes with the producers, but that was nothing compared to
the news he received on set.
Del Toro had no way to meet the kidnappers’ demands, but fate stepped in in the form of none other than
James Cameron. The two filmmakers became close friends while del Toro was filming ‘Cronos,’
and Cameron happily ponied up the dough to free Federico. But even after
his father was released unharmed after 72 days in captivity, del Toro no longer felt safe
in the country he called home. He moved with his family to America,
where he honed his craft and found his first taste of Hollywood success.
After filming the Spanish-language ghost story ‘The Devil’s Backbone’ in 2001,
Guillermo was hired to direct ‘Blade II.'
2004's
'I hate those comic books, they never get the eyes right.'
It was the perfect fit for Guillermo’s twisted sensibilities, mixing his obsession
with monsters and the occult with a steampunk style and Lovecraftian dread.
He followed it up with ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ in 2006, a freaky fairytale
that earned del Toro his first Oscar nominations, and ‘Hellboy 2,’
which performed poorly when it released in 2008, thanks to some serious superhero competition.
Del Toro’s name has been attached to dozens of different projects over the years
that for various reasons never worked out.
The third ‘Harry Potter’ movie was originally going to be a del Toro film,
but he passed on ‘The Prisoner of Azkaban’
to make ‘Hellboy’ instead. Similarly, del Toro was a frontrunner to direct ‘Thor’
and the ill-fated ‘Halo’ adaptation in 2008, but he passed on those for his most
infamous missed opportunity, ‘The Hobbit.’
Del Toro spent two years in New Zealand working on the script and pre-production
with producer Peter Jackson, but thanks to studio delays and red tape,
del Toro left the film in 2010, leaving Jackson to hastily direct the trilogy himself.
'I was hanging by a thread on my arm for so long that at the end of the day, you have to cut it off.'
Once ‘The Hobbit’ debacle was behind him, del Toro bounced back strong
with ‘Pacific Rim,’ his awe-inspiring ode to Japanese kaiju films.
'Today we are canceling the apocalypse!' [crowd cheers]
He switched gears for his atmospheric gothic throwback ‘Crimson Peak’ in 2015
and dabbled in other projects like the animated ‘Trollhunters.’
As a child, Guillermo was heartbroken that the 'Creature from the Black Lagoon'
couldn’t end up with the girl. So when he grew up,
del Toro was able to give the Gill-man the happy ending he deserved.
'If I told you about her, what would I say? That they lived happily ever after?
I believe they did.'
‘The Shape of Water’ is a haunting love story,
a chilling cold war allegory, and a good ol’ fashioned monster movie all in one,
and despite the Academy’s well-known bias against sci-fi and horror films,
Now that his talents have finally been recognized, del Toro is finally able to make
some of his dream projects a reality, like his next film, a stop-motion
‘Pinocchio’ movie that he’s had in the works since 2008.