Guillermo del Toro wants ‘Pacific Rim’ kaiju to ‘start from scratch’

Director Guillermo del Toro deliberately avoided watching classic Japanese monster films when he was making “Pacific Rim,” his upcoming robots-versus-kaiju film.

Slated for a July 12, 2013, release, the film chronicles an epic battle between alien kaiju and giant robots piloted by humans.

“I felt there was a chance to do something fresh, something new that at the same time was conscious of the heritage, but not a pastiche or an homage or a greatest hits of everything,” Del Toro said. “One of the first things I did is make it a point to not check any old movies or any other references. Like start from scratch.”

Del Toro is the guest on the latest episode of “Hero Complex: The Show,” which you can find above or over at the Nerdist Channel on YouTube. This interview was conducted by Hero Complex’s Geoff Boucher at San Diego’s Comic-Con International, before Del Toro revealed footage from “Pacific Rim” to a Hall H audience of 6,500.

Though Del Toro has produced several movies (including “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark” and “Puss in Boots”) in the last few years, “Pacific Rim” will be Del Toro’s first time directing since 2008′s “Hellboy II: The Golden Army.”

– Noelene Clark

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