Critically acclaimed filmmaker and author from Mexico, widely known for his work on the
Speculative Fiction genre. He is perhaps best recognized by moviegoers as director of the
Hellboy film series, as well as his best-received film,
Pan's Labyrinth.
Del Toro is notoriously known for turning down high-budgeted
Summer Blockbuster movies to work on smaller, independent projects. So far he has rejected offers to direct
I Am Legend,
One Missed Call;
The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe;
Halo, and even
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. He did, however, accept an offer to work on the upcoming
The Hobbit film series, but, as of 2010, the movies have been stuck in
Development Hell and he has left the venture as a result (
The Hobbit will be directed by
The Lord of the Rings-helmer
Peter Jackson, while del Toro is remaining as a co-writer, with possible responsibility for special effects).
He is currently developing
Trollhunters, which he will produce at
DreamWorks Animation. He also announced that he will make Dreamworks his animation home and has already worked on a few projects, including
Kung Fu Panda 2 and
Megamind. The full press release can be read
here
.
He made his literary debut with co-author Chuck Hogan in 2009, with the release of a vampire novel,
The Strain. It is the first part of a trilogy of novels. He is also hoping for a final sequel to the Hellboy movies.
His pet project is adapting
H.P. Lovecraft's
At the Mountains of Madness for the big screen. Despite backing from
James Cameron and tentative agreement by
Tom Cruise to star, the project was
cancelled by Universal: partly because they thought it unlikely for a
Cosmic Horror film to make money at the box office, and partly because del Toro refused to
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 made attempts to find financing with 20th Century Fox, but has more recently stated that he wishes to put the project on hold due to its similarity to Cameron's
Prometheus.
Is a frequent collaborator with
Ron Perlman. He is also
One of Us being an avid gamer who cites games like
Half-Life and
Bioshock as being his favorites and he is currently making a game titled
Insane.
His latest film will be the giant monster film
Pacific Rim, due in theaters in 2013.
Not remotely related to actor Benicio Del Toro.
Films:- As both Writer and Director
- As Director only:
- As Writer only:
Other Work:
Tropes common to his works include:
- Bittersweet Ending
- Break the Cutie - Many of his films feature children in extreme peril.
- Clockwork Creature - Cronos and the Hellboy movies have both featured creatures powered by clockwork. A clock also features prominently in Pan's Labyrinth.
- Creator Thumbprint - Slime, aspects of Clock Punk (or at least, clocks), things in jars (often People Jars), and references to Roman Catholicism. The supernatural is extremely common, and he's also greatly interested in the Spanish Civil War.
- Dark Is Not Evil - Most of his films feature sympathetic monsters and evil humans.
- Doing It for the Art - 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.
- Executive Meddling - Guillermo often wrestles with this; his first 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 Pan's Labyrinth to 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.
- The Fair Folk - Seen in Pan's Labyrinth, the Hellboy movies and Don't be Afraid of the Dark.
- Fractured Fairy Tale
- Humans Are Bastards - See Dark Is Not Evil; often, it's the humans who are far worse than any monster.
- Kids Are Cruel - A recurring theme in his work. Partially a deliberate subversion of the Children Are Innocent movie cliche, and partially allegedly drawn from his own childhood experiences.
- Magic Realism
- Our Monsters Are Different - His depictions of supernatural creatures often deviate from the norm.
- Production Posse - His movies tend to have Ron Perlman, Luke Goss, and/or Doug Jones; Hellboy II featured all three of them in notable roles. The cinematography is usually done by Guillermo Navarro and Marco Beltrami scores most of his films.
- Scenery Porn - Most of his films include this in some capacity.
- Signature Style - In addition to his Creator Thumbprint, his films often favor a specific and small palette (amber for Hellboy, blue-green for Pan's Labyrinth and yellow/blue for night/day in Blade 2).
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