Guillermo del Toro Might Have Won an Oscar, But Even He Was Afraid of Going Against Zack Snyder at the Biggest Stage: “I was shitting my pants”
- Guillermo del Toro has mastered the sci-fi and horror genres over the past three decades of his career.
- One of del Toro's most critically acclaimed films debuted at the same event as Zack Snyder's Man of Steel, and the former was beyond scared.
- The Devil's Backbone director changed aspects of his film's production to ensure that it turned out a masterpiece.
Known for his love of monsters and other such grotesque or fantasy themes, Guillermo del Toro is one of the most legendary filmmakers of all time. He has been in the filmmaking industry for over three decades and has been nominated and won some of the most prestigious accolades.
Passionate and meticulous about his work, del Toro is no stranger to feeling anxious about whether people will appreciate what he has created. One such occasion was when he had to unveil the first teaser for the 2013 film Pacific Rim at the San Diego Comic-Con 2012. This was the same event where the first teaser for Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel was released and del Toro was scared that he would not impress the fans, to say the least.
Guillermo del Toro was afraid of how fans would react to Pacific Rim in Hall H
Guillermo del Toro‘s career was supposed to take off with the stop-motion sci-fi movie Omnivore, which would have worked out if the set and puppets designed for it had not been vandalized. That movie was scratched in favor of the live-action film Cronos, an independent Mexican horror film. His next film was yet another horror flick named Mimic.
After that, del Toro directed comic book movies like Blade II, Hellboy, its sequel, and the 2006 masterpiece, Pan’s Labyrinth. Five years after the release of Hellboy II: The Golden Army, he put his director’s hat back on for Pacific Rim, a movie where giant robots go against giant monsters. This sounds like a dream come true for sci-fi fans, and del Toro had given his best to the project.
Even so, he was not sure whether or not it would land well with the 6,500 fans who would be watching the first teaser at Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con. In an interview with Variety, he recounted how he felt while dressing up for the event.
It hit me like a ton of bricks. I grabbed my wife and I said ‘I’m absolutely petrified.’ You have a beautiful movie, don’t worry.
His wife’s reassurance gave him a momentary boost of confidence. The movie was personally important to him and so his anxiety was at an all-time peak as his turn approached post the presentation of the teaser for Man of Steel.
Everybody around me was very happy, confident. I was shitting my pants.
He revealed that he was afraid that fans would be mad at him for the movies that he never made in the four years despite being attached to them, for instance, an adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness. Luckily, it turned out that he had nothing to worry about as the fans roared in excitement when the trailer ended.
Guillermo del Toro used a different approach with directing actors for Pacific Rim
Fans’ reaction to the trailer set del Toro free. He was so relieved that he even forgot to play it for a second time as he basked in all the appreciation the trailer had incited out of the audience. Upon release, the movie earned $411 million at the box office (via Box Office Mojo), making it his highest-grossing film.
However, all of it came at a cost as the Crimson Peak director had to change aspects of his own directing style to achieve what he wanted with Pacific Rim. The first thing he had to change was the duration of the production.
He had never shot a film in less than 115 days but completed this one in 103 days and worked overtime to complete it. The next thing to change was his directing style as he usually wanted the actors in his earlier films to “move in an extremely mannered way that matched the camera moves.”
In those movies I wanted it to be balletic, but I also wanted it to be almost like a ritual or a dance. But on ‘Pacific Rim’ I needed to allow the actors to breathe a lot more. I wanted to shoot a lot looser and even allow for improvisation, which I had never done.
However, one thing that remained unaltered was his need for control. Every single thing about the production had to be approved by him whether or not people like that. It was even apparent in the way he called, “Action!” Regardless, he remains one of the most beloved filmmakers ever.
