Line #69 Creator/GuillermoDelToro


1	[[quoteright:267:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/guillermo_del_toro_book_4100.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:267:''[[http://www.reddit.com/r/gifs/comments/20id3z/japanese_child_actress_mana_was_embarrassed_that/ Del-To-Ro, Del-To-Ro...]]'']]
3
4	[floatboxright: Genres:
5	+ {{Superhero}}, {{Fantasy}}, {{Horror}}, PsychologicalThriller
6	]
7
8	->"''I happen to believe that family is the source of all the joy and all the horror in our lives — both. That's my starting point in every tale.''"
9
10	Guillermo del Toro Gómez (born October 9, 1964) is a critically acclaimed Mexican filmmaker and author, widely known for his SpeculativeFiction works. He is perhaps best recognized by moviegoers as director of the ''Film/{{Hellboy\|2004}}'' film duology and ''Film/PansLabyrinth'', as well as the UsefulNotes/AcademyAward winning ''Film/TheShapeOfWater''.
11
12	Del Toro is notorious for turning down high-budgeted SummerBlockbuster movies to work on smaller, independent projects. So far he has rejected offers to direct ''Film/IAmLegend''; ''Film/OneMissedCall''; ''Film/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe''; ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'', and even ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince''. He did, however, accept an offer to work on the ''Film/TheHobbit'' film series, but ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings''-helmer Creator/PeterJackson wound up taking over the director's spot, with del Toro staying on as a writer. Another famed characteristic of his is [[AttentionDeficitCreatorDisorder being attached to so many things]] that [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillermo_del_Toro#Future_projects his "future projects"]] are very different than [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillermo_del_Toro_filmography what actually comes out]].
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14	He also developed ''WesternAnimation/{{Trollhunters}}'', which he produced at Creator/DreamWorksAnimation. He also announced that he made [=DreamWorks=] his animation home and has already worked on a few projects, including ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda2'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Megamind}}''. The full press release can be read [[http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3id8b4313a40c3bc11cb00b07f74df9f4a here]].
15
16	He made his literary debut with co-author Chuck Hogan in 2009, with the release of a vampire novel, ''Literature/TheStrain''. It is the first part of a trilogy of novels. He was also hoping for a final sequel to the Hellboy movies until a reboot was announced in 2017.
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18	His pet project is adapting Creator/HPLovecraft's ''Literature/AtTheMountainsOfMadness'' for the big screen. Despite backing from Creator/JamesCameron and tentative agreement by Creator/TomCruise to star, the project was [[ExecutiveMeddling cancelled by Universal]]: partly because they thought it unlikely for a CosmicHorrorStory film to make money at the box office, and partly because del Toro refused to [[{{Bowdlerise}} tone down some of its elements so that it would likely be rated PG-13]] (his proposed script would definitely catch an R). He has also adamantly refused to include a TokenRomance. He made attempts to find financing with 20th Century Fox, but he put the project on hold due to its similarity to Creator/{{Ridley Scott}}'s ''Film/{{Prometheus}}''. The latest news concerning the project seems to indicate that Legendary is open to funding the film and he has compromised on his desire for an R-rating.
19
20	Is a frequent collaborator with Creator/RonPerlman and [[ComicBook/{{Hellboy}} Mike Mignola]]. He is also JustForFun/OneOfUs being an avid gamer who cites games like ''VideoGame/HalfLife'' and ''VideoGame/BioShock1'' as being his favorites and he was developing ''Insane'', as well as ''VideoGame/SilentHills'' with Creator/HideoKojima before both got cancelled. He is also friends with fellow Mexican directors Creator/AlfonsoCuaron and Creator/AlejandroGonzalezInarritu, the three being collectively known as "The Three Amigos of Cinema."[[note]]With del Toro's win for ''The Shape of Water'' in 2017, all three have now won Best Director at the [[UsefulNotes/AcademyAward Oscars]].[[/note]]
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22	He has also become a rare big proponent of animation and hopes to avert the AnimationAgeGhetto in the mainstream industry, to the point that after the success of 2022's ''Pinocchio'', he has stated that after his next live action film, [[https://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/guillermo-del-toro-only-wants-to-do-animation/ he plans to focus purely on animation]].
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24	Not remotely related to actor Creator/BenicioDelToro, who is Puerto Rican, not Mexican.
25	----
26	!!Filmography:
27	[[index]]
28
29	[[AC:As both Writer and Director]]
30	* ''Film/{{Cronos}}''
31	* ''Film/{{Mimic}}''
32	* ''Film/TheDevilsBackbone''
33	* ''Film/{{Hellboy\|2004}}''
34	* ''Film/PansLabyrinth''
35	** ''The Labyrinth of the Faun'' ({{novelization}})
36	* ''Film/HellboyIITheGoldenArmy''
37	* ''Film/PacificRim''
38	* ''Series/TheStrain'' (Directed the feature-length pilot episode and co-wrote the teleplay with novel collaborator Chuck Hogan.)
39	* ''Film/CrimsonPeak''
40	* ''Film/TheShapeOfWater'' (For which he won an Oscar for Best Directing, on top of the film winning Best Picture)
41	* ''Franchise/TalesOfArcadia''
42	** ''{{WesternAnimation/Trollhunters}}''
43	** ''WesternAnimation/ThreeBelow''
44	** ''WesternAnimation/Wizards2020''
45	* ''[[Film/NightmareAlley2021 Nightmare Alley]]'' (Based on the William Lindsay Gresham [[Literature/NightmareAlley novel of the same name]])
46	* ''[[WesternAnimation/GuillermoDelTorosPinocchio Pinocchio]]'' (co-director and co-writer)
47
48	[[AC:As Director only:]]
49	* ''Film/BladeII''
50
51	[[AC:As Writer only:]]
52	* ''Film/DontBeAfraidOfTheDark''
53	* ''Film/TheWitches2020''
54	* ''WesternAnimation/TrollhuntersRiseOfTheTitans'' (writer and producer)
55	* ''Series/GuillermoDelTorosCabinetOfCuriosities'' (Creator, writer, executive producer, and host)
56
57	[[AC:Other Work:]]
58	* ''VideoGame/HellboyTheScienceOfEvil'', a video game based on the ''Film/{{Hellboy\|2004}}'' film series which was published by Creator/{{Konami}}. (writer)
59	* ''Literature/TheStrain'' (Novel, 2009), and its sequels, ''The Fall'' (2010) and ''Night Eternal'' (2011); all with Chuck Hogan.
60	* ''Literature/{{Trollhunters}}'' ({{Young Adult\|Literature}} novel, developed into an animated series)
61	* ''WesternAnimation/HellboyAnimated'' (Producer)
62	* ''Film/TheHobbit'' (Was directing and co-writing, but after several years in DevelopmentHell he stepped down as director, and remained credited as a co-writer with Creator/PeterJackson (and his usual writing team)).
63	* ''Insane'' (horror video game originally intended to be released in 2013; currently canceled as a result of THQ's bankruptcy, but with the intellectual rights transferring to del Toro).
64	* ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'' (actor, as Pappy [=McPoyle=])
65	* ''Film/JuliasEyes'' (producer)
66	* ''WesternAnimation/PussInBoots2011'' (executive producer and voice of the Commadante)
67	* ''WesternAnimation/RiseOfTheGuardians'' (executive producer)
68	* ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda3'' (executive producer)
69	* ''Film/{{Mama}}'' (executive producer)
70	* ''Film/TheOrphanage'' (executive producer)
71	* Intro for ''[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS25E2TreehouseOfHorrorXXIV Treehouse of Horror XXIV]]''
72	* ''WesternAnimation/TheBookOfLife'' (executive producer)
73	* ''VideoGame/SilentHills'' (a ''Franchise/SilentHill'' game, collaborating with Creator/HideoKojima, now cancelled)
74	* ''VideoGame/DeathStranding'' (collaboration with Creator/HideoKojima, in an acting role[[note]]though technically he serves as an [[InkSuitActor ink suit]] for a character played by Jesse Corti, although Corti emulates del Toro.[[/note]])
75	* ''Film/PacificRimUprising'' (as producer)
76	* ''WesternAnimation/MickeyAndTheRoadsterRacers'' : Mr. Talbot (voice role)
77	* ''Film/{{Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark\|2019}}'' (producer and story credit)
78	* ''Film/{{Antlers}}'' (producer)
79	* ''Literature/TheHollowOnes'' (Novel, 2020); with Chuck Hogan.
80	[[/index]]
81
82	!!Tropes and trivia common to his works include:
83	* AttentionDeficitCreatorDisorder: Del Toro gave up on directing ''Film/TheHobbit'' because he was involved in way too many things, with his schedule filled up until 2017. Among the projects are a new ''Literature/{{Frankenstein}}'', a remake of ''Literature/SlaughterhouseFive'', adaptations of ''Literature/AtTheMountainsOfMadness'', ''Franchise/TheHauntedMansion'', and ''Literature/{{Drood}}'', a third ''Film/{{Hellboy\|2004}}'', and a ''Film/PacificRim'' sequel movie and prequel cartoon (and that's just the ones he'll direct!). And as of 2020 (save for the ''Pacific Rim'' sequel which he produced rather than directed) precisely ''none'' of them have so much as entered production.
84	* AuthorAppeal:
85	** He ''loves'' monsters, generally with slime, prehensile throat appendages (seriously, this appears in five of his film), copious EyesDoNotBelongThere, insects, things in jars (often PeopleJars), and supernatural stuff.
86	** Spanish culture features in his works, sometimes in the background as in ''Pan's Labyrinth'' and ''The Orphanage'', and sometimes in the form of his favorite cameo-man Santiago Segura doing some of his crass Spanish comedy. Del Toro himself has stated to love the country and its history, and is a declared fan of Spaniards like mystery journalist [[Series/CuartoMilenio Íker Jiménez]] and comedian Creator/JoseMota.
87	** Also references to Roman Catholicism. Del Toro was raised as one, and although he describes himself as a "raging atheist," he still likes the imagery.
88	** ClockPunk, or at least, clocks.
89	** Fetuses in jars of yellow fluid, present in ''The Devil's Backbone, Blade II, Death Stranding'', and ''Nightmare Alley.''
90	** A lot of his characters collect things, with heroic elderly antique dealers showing up in ''Cronos'' and ''The Strain'' (and are both mirrored by [[EvilOldFolks elderly villains]] who keep their discarded organs around like Howard Hughes' jars of urine), all the weird things on display at the BPRD offices in the ''Hellboy'' movies, the collection of clockwork toys in ''Crimson Peak'', and the above-mentioned pickled fetuses. This also extends to Del Toro himself, who [[https://www.kpcc.org/show/the-frame/2016-07-22/bleak-house-a-tour-inside-guillermo-del-toros-creative-man-cave bought a second house just to house all the weird things he had collected]], or even the simple fact that he named his anthology horror series ''Series/GuillermoDelTorosCabinetOfCuriosities''.
91	* AuthorPhobia:
92	** He hates horses and cows, which he has called "perverted creatures" and "evil motherfuckers". Any character associated with either animal - the horse-mounted fascists in ''Film/PansLabyrinth'' or the bull-like [[AllTrollsAreDifferent troll]] Mr. Wink in ''Film/HellboyIITheGoldenArmy'' - are likely to be evil. Rather ironic, given his surname.
93	** Part of the reason his family left Mexico was that his dad got kidnapped and held for ransom. The loss of a father is a big motif in his work - [[Film/PansLabyrinth Ofelia]], [[Film/TheShapeOfWater Elisa]], and [[WesternAnimation/TrollHunters Jim]] are all fatherless, [[Film/Hellboy2004 Hellboy]] and [[Film/CrimsonPeak Edith]] both [[YouKilledMyFather lose their fathers]] (the latter in a truly brutal scene), [[Film/PacificRim Mako]] is orphaned in her backstory and ''then'' [[spoiler: loses her adoptive father in the climax]], [[Film/NightmareAlley2021 Stan Carlisle]] [[spoiler: kills his own father]], and ''Film/{{Cronos}}'' is ultimately about a little girl saying goodbye to her grandfather. His version of ''[[WesternAnimation/GuillermoDelTorosPinocchio Pinocchio]]'' is all about the complex relationship between the title character and his father, [[spoiler: and the movie ends with Gepetto dying of old age]]. On the other hand, evil father figures show up pretty often as well - most overtly with the WickedStepfather [[Film/PansLabyrinth Cpt. Vidal]] and the deconstructed StandardFiftiesFather that is [[Film/TheShapeOfWater Richard Strickland]], and the [[Film/CrimsonPeak Sharpe siblings']] father is said to have been [[DomesticAbuse a drunken abuser]].
94	** Del Toro clearly has strong opinions about fascism too, with overtly-fascist villains showing up in three of his films (Nazis in ''Hellboy'', Francoists in ''Pan's Labyrinth'', and Italian fascists in ''Pinocchio'') and fascist-sympathetic villains in two more (''The Devil's Backbone'' and ''The Shape of Water''). In other mediums, Eichorst in ''Literature/TheStrain'' is a Nazi and Nick in del Toro's contribution to ''Series/GuillermoDelTorosCabinetOfCuriosities'', "Lot 36", is extremely right-wing [[spoiler: and the monster of the episode is a demon summoned by a Nazi to infest his own sister's body]].
95	** Related to his enmity towards fascism is his opposition to the idea of perfection. His villains are usually in pursuit of some kind of perfection, from Rasputin and his followers in ''Hellboy'' trying to create "a new Eden", ''Cronos'' and ''The Strain'' both feature evil billionaires obsessed with a kind of biological perfection, compulsively replacing their own internal organs to try to live for ever, and the villains of ''Pan's Labyrinth'' and ''The Shape of Water'' are both obsessed with living up to the expectations of what they think a man is supposed to be, and the Podesta's goal is to mold Pinocchio and Candlewick into "perfect" soldiers. This relates to his tendency towards ClockPunk imagery, which usually symbolizes a villain's desire for perfect, regulated order. Conversely his heroes are - or learn to be - [[BeYourself more accepting of their own faults and those of others]], which Agent Myers from ''Hellboy'' sums up thus:
96	--->We like people in spite of their flaws, but we love people because of them.
97	* BeastAndBeauty: Most obvious in the full-on [[InterspeciesRelationship monsterfucker]] love story that is ''Film/TheShapeOfWater'', but we can also see it in the ''Hellboy'' movies, with a romantic arc between the BigRedDevil hero and his human girlfriend, Liz. In the second ''Hellboy'', the [[FishPeople fishman]] Abe also has a romantic arc with an elven princess who appears much more human that he does.
98	* BeYourself: A big theme of his films is we need to accept that we, and those around us, are flawed. For example, in ''The Shape of Water'', CuteMute Elisa becomes attracted to the Amphibian Man because "he doesn't see how I am incomplete, he sees me as I am", and ''Pinocchio'' is about how Gepetto needs to accept that his son is a roughly-hewn chunk of wood, rather than expecting him to be a "real boy".
99	* BittersweetEnding: Most of his movies will end with the bad guy defeated, but a clear sense that a price has been paid by the protagonists, too.
100	* BlackAndWhiteMorality: In many of his films, there's a clear distinction on who's good and who's bad, though his good characters are still allowed to be flawed.
101	* BookEnds: Several of his films, like ''The Devil's Backbone'', ''Pan's Labyrinth'', ''Hellboy'' and ''The Shape of Water'', usually start with an opening narration that comes back in the ending to nicely tie everything together in a fairy tale-like fashion.
102	* BreakTheCutie: Many of his films feature children in extreme peril.
103	* CelebrityResemblance: [[WebVideo/HonestTrailers The Honest Trailer]] for ''Pacific Rim'' calls del Toro "the Latino Creator/PeterJackson". The pictures shown reinforces their resemblance.
104	* CreatorsFavoriteEpisode: ''Film/TheShapeOfWater'', which netted him an Oscar.
105	* DarkIsNotEvil: Most of his films feature sympathetic monsters or ghosts. The ghosts in ''The Devil's Backbone'' and ''Crimson Peak'' are simply [[GhostlyGoals trying to expose their murderers]], Hellboy and Blade are basically monster super heroes, Pinocchio meets a threatening-but-basically-benevolent Angel of Death and her [[HairRaisingHare rabbit]] {{psychopomp}} underlings (and Pinocchio himself is arguably a monster in this version), and ''The Shape of Water'' is about rescuing a ''Film/CreatureFromTheBlackLagoon'' {{expy}} from [[TheyWouldCutYouUp vivisection]] (and also how good the Creature is [[YouSexyBeast at sex]]). A lot of the tension in ''Film/PansLabyrinth'' comes from wondering whether the [[FaunsAndSatyrs Faun]] can be trusted, [[spoiler: and it turns out that he can]].
106	* DevilButNoGod: Del Toro identifies as an atheist (albit one deeply fascinated with the aesthetics of Catholicism), but does believe in the supernatural.
107	* DoingItForTheArt: Many of his films are passion projects. He's turned down or postponed high-profile films to work on smaller ones that he has a personal connection to. He's even taken significant budget cuts rather than cave to ExecutiveMeddling. He ''especially'' doesn't like it when people assume ''Film/PacificRim'' or ''Film/Hellboy2004'' aren't deeply personal [[SciFiGhetto because they're not "serious" fantastical films]].
108	-->''People say, you know, "I like your Spanish movies more than I like your English-language movies because they are not as personal", and I go "Fuck, you're wrong!" ''Hellboy'' is as personal to me as ''Pan's Labyrinth''. They're tonally different, and yes, of course you can like one more than the other -- the other one may seem banal or whatever it is that you don't like. But it really is part of the same movie. You make one movie.''
109	* ExecutiveMeddling: Guillermo often wrestles with this; his second film ''Mimic'' was equated to "having a beautiful daughter and watching her arms get cut off". The studios have fought with him at other points (for example, they wanted ''Film/PansLabyrinth'' to [[SmallReferencePools take place in Nazi Germany instead of Franco's Spain]]) but his additional clout has allowed him to be more successful in staying true to his vision nowadays.
110	%% * TheFairFolk: Seen in ''Film/PansLabyrinth'', the ''Film/{{Hellboy\|2004}}'' movies, and ''Film/DontBeAfraidOfTheDark''.
111	* FracturedFairyTale: ''Film/PansLabyrinth'' and ''Film/TheShapeOfWater'' are a dark, twisted, fantastical adventure and a romance, respectively. Downplayed in ''WesternAnimation/GuillermoDelTorosPinocchio'', which is a fairly dark and subversive take on the classic story, but still more or less kid-friendly.
112	* GenreThrowback:
113	** ''Film/CrimsonPeak'' is one for Gothic Romance, as well as the visually sumptuous HauntedHouse movies of the '60s, '70s, and early '80s (stuff like ''Film/TheHaunting1963'', ''Film/TheShining'' and the works of Creator/MarioBava).
114	** As whole, del Toro considers all of his films to be deliberate reconstructions of the [[GothicHorror Gothic literature]] he grew up reading.
115	* HumansAreBastards: Even in stories full of monsters, most of his real villains will be humans. Even in stories with monstrous villains, like ''Literature/TheStrain'', the monsters have no trouble corrupting susceptible humans.
116	* KidsAreCruel: A recurring theme in his work. Partially a deliberate subversion of the ChildrenAreInnocent movie cliche, and partially allegedly drawn from his own childhood experiences. It's also worth noting that a lot of the mean kids in his stories (e.g. Jaime from ''Film/TheDevilsBackbone'', Steve from ''Franchise/TalesOfArcadia'', and even [[spoiler: Zach from ''Literature/TheStrain'']], who does some truly evil things) get some level of redemption.
117	* KidHero: In ''Film/TheDevilsBackbone'', ''Film/PansLabyrinth'', ''WesternAnimation/GuillermoDelTorosPinocchio'', and the ''Franchise/TalesOfArcadia'' universe. His adult heroes tend to have be somewhat childlike as well.
118	* OurMonstersAreDifferent: His depictions of supernatural creatures often deviate from the norm.
119	* PeriodPiece: Most of his films are set prior to the 1970s, with the 1940s being a favourite decade (''The Devil's Backbone'', ''Pan's Labyrinth'', ''Nightmare Alley'', ''Pinocchio''). ''Crimson Peak'' is mostly set in 1901, and ''The Shape of Water'' is set in the early '60s, during the Kennedy administration.
120	* ProductionPosse: Creator/RonPerlman, Creator/DougJones and Creator/SantiagoSegura tend to appear in most of his films.
121	* RenaissanceMan: Is the first person in history to win an Oscar for directing/producing both live-action and animated films. Is also an accomplished screenwriter, novelist, gamer, artist, and a [=historian/collector=] of Victorian era antiquity.
122	* SceneryPorn: Most of his films include this in some capacity.
123	* SignatureStyle: In addition to his AuthorAppeal and AuthorPhobia, his films often favor a specific and small palette (amber for ''Film/{{Hellboy\|2004}}'', blue-green for ''Film/PansLabyrinth'', yellow/blue for night/day in ''Film/BladeII'', and green/yellow for ''Film/TheShapeOfWater''). He also likes a particular type of creepiness; "I have a sort of a fetish for insects, clockwork, monsters, dark places, and unborn things,"
124	* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: Despite a reasonable amount of cynicism, there is a good amount of optimism and magic in his films.
125	* WhatCouldHaveBeen: It was rumored that he was approached to direct the ''Godzilla'' [[Film/{{Godzilla2014}} remake]] (which was actually directed by Creator/GarethEdwards), though Guillermo has since debunked those rumors.
126	** He ''was'' offered the ''Film/HarryPotter'' movies (specifically ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban Prisoner of Azkaban]]'' and ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince Half-Blood Prince]]'') but turned them down since he felt the movies didn't jibe with his dark vision of the Potterverse. He is a fan of the books however, and was the one who encouraged Creator/AlfonsoCuaron to direct ''[=PoA=]''.
127	** He also submitted a script for the film version of ''Comicbook/JusticeLeagueDark'' with its tentative title, ''Dark Universe'' to Warner Bros. and was waiting for the project to be greenlit. However, with the announcement that all Creator/VertigoComics adaptions would be Distributed by Creator/NewLineCinema, [[http://www.slashfilm.com/del-toro-off-justice-league-dark/ it seem's that he has left the film Project altogether]]. When it's revealed that WB liked the script and planned to shoot it which coincides the production of ''Pacific Rim 2'', [[http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Why-Guillermo-del-Toro-Dropped-Justice-League-Dark-72664.html del Toro had to make a difficult choice]]. So, he chose ''Pacific Rim 2'' instead since he's already made schedules for the filming which would happen on late 2015.
128	** He had ''two video games'' in the works: A game known as ''inSANE'' which was cancelled due to production being halted by THQ, who went out of business afterwards. And then there's the most infamous, ''VideoGame/SilentHills'' which was cancelled after Creator/{{Konami}} went bonkers and fired Creator/HideoKojima.
129	** He was in talks to direct a ''ComicBook/DoctorStrange'' movie, which would have been co-written by Creator/NeilGaiman. Del Toro was also considered for ''Film/{{Thor}}''.
130	** ''Hellboy 3'' became this with the announcement that it "100% will not happen". The series was eventually [[Film/Hellboy2019 rebooted without his involvement]].
131	** He was attached to ''Film/HauntedMansion2023'', based on [[Ride/TheHauntedMansion the Disney theme park ride]], as a writer and producer and submitted multiple screenplays to Creator/{{Disney}}, intending to make a movie that was both funny and genuinely horrific. In the end, del Toro's idea was considered too scary for the target audience and the movie was made by a new creative team without his involvment.

Context Creator / GuillermoDelToro