Guillermo del Toro

Guillermo del Toro served as a guest of honor at the fourth annual Hero Complex Film Festival last weekend in Hollywood, appearing on stage for a Q&A between screenings of  two Spanish-language movies — “The Devil’s Backbone,” the 2001 gothic horror movie set during the Spanish Civil War; and “Pan’s Labyrinth,” his Academy Award-winning dark fantasy set during Francoist Spain. While taking questions from the audience, Del Toro elaborated on his planned adaptation of DC Comics’ “Justice League Dark,” saying that he wanted to focus on characters including Constantine, Deadman, Etrigan, Swamp Thing and Floronic Man. “I was never a superhero guy,” Del Toro said. “I thought I could do some of the edgier, darker stuff. “One of my most cherished memories when I was a kid was running to the drug store, the newsstand, on my bike to get […]

Guillermo del Toro served as a guest of honor at the fourth annual Hero Complex Film Festival this past weekend in Hollywood, appearing on stage for a Q&A between screenings of two of his most personal films, the Spanish-language movies “The Devil’s Backbone,” a 2001 gothic horror movie set during the Spanish Civil War, and “Pan’s Labyrinth,” his Academy Award-winning dark fantasy set during Francoist Spain. The writer-director talked about the ways his children have influenced his work — “If I had not had my two daughters, I couldn’t have written, much less do, ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ because the girl Ofelia is very much based in how much admiration I have for their character,” Del Toro said. He talked about “Pan’s” as a film very much about “choice and disobedience.” “It was very important for me to make a movie in […]

Guillermo del Toro served as a guest of honor at the fourth annual Hero Complex Film Festival this past weekend in Hollywood, appearing on stage for a Q&A between screenings of two of his most personal films, the Spanish-language movies “The Devil’s Backbone,” a 2001 gothic horror movie set during the Spanish Civil War, and “Pan’s Labyrinth,” his Academy Award-winning dark fantasy set during Francoist Spain. But the appearance also provided the writer-director with a chance to tout his latest, “Pacific Rim,” a $180-million love letter to the kaiju movies he loved growing up. Showing the latest trailer for the film, which debuted online Thursday, spurred him to discuss his love for Japanese pop culture. He talked about reading manga series like “Astro Boy,” watching films by Toho, the Japanese production company behind Godzilla, and fancifully sketching giant robots. (To […]

Spectacle, you say? The new trailer for Guillermo del Toro’s “Pacific Rim” delivers it on a massive scale, with out-of-this world creatures and towering robots duking it out on land and in the ocean, all while bathed in stunningly beautiful blue and gold light. Due in theaters July 12, the film, which Del Toro co-wrote with Travis Beacham, takes place in a near future, after a race of giant alien monsters has invaded our world via an inter-dimensional portal, prompting mankind to build equally enormous robots called Jaegers to defeat them. The hulking mechanized weapons are manned by an elite team of pilots, including Charlie Hunnam’s Raleigh Becket and Rinko Kikuchi’s Mako Mori, who represent humanity’s best line of defense against the beastly threat. The new clip explains “Pacific Rim’s” monster premise in a little more detail, but it’s the […]

Any public appearance by Guillermo del Toro is a buffet of goodies for fans of monsters, robots and things that go bump in the night. The director’s visit Saturday night to the Hero Complex Film Festival was no exception, with Del Toro sharing a new trailer for his upcoming sci-fi monster movie “Pacific Rim” and dropping details on future projects “Justice League Dark” and “Monster” in between screenings of two of his most personal films, “The Devil’s Backbone” and “Pan’s Labyrinth.” Del Toro said “Pacific Rim,” which opens July 12 and pits massive robots against invading monsters in a near-future world, was inspired by his childhood love of Japanese pop culture. He talked about reading manga series like “Astro Boy,” watching films by Toho, the Japanese production company behind Godzilla, and fancifully sketching giant robots — an obsession he has […]

Guillermo del Toro’s back in the multiplex this summer in a big way with his massive robots versus kaiju epic “Pacific Rim.” The film, due out July 12, promises to deliver “2,500 tons of awesome” with a tale set in the near future, when a race of giant alien monsters has invaded our world via an inter-dimensional portal, prompting mankind to build equally enormous robots called Jaegers to defeat them. Del Toro was on hand at WonderCon in Anaheim earlier this year to promote the project, and now, he’s shared the footage he showed to the convention audience, which explains the film’s premise in a little more detail and showcases some pretty spectacular fight sequences. Del Toro, who co-wrote the screenplay with Travis Beacham, shot “Pacific Rim” almost entirely at Pinewood Toronto Studios, where the production used the facility’s eight […]

Leave it to Guillermo del Toro to use the word “romantic” when talking about massive, towering robots. “What I wanted to do was to make gothic tech,” Del Toro said of his new film “Pacific Rim,” due out July 12. “What we went for is a very, very romantic look. I wanted to have a lot of crazy rain, wind, all the drama of an Emily Bronte movie in a high-tech movie.” To the casual observer, “Pacific Rim” might not recall 19th century British literature so much as the ultimate “Godzilla” meets “Transformers” mash-up. The story takes place in a near future, after a race of giant alien monsters has invaded our world via an inter-dimensional portal, prompting mankind to build equally enormous robots called Jaegers to defeat them. The hulking mechanized weapons are manned by an elite team of […]

After footage of “Pacific Rim” played at CinemaCon this week, the whispers were palpable. “This looks like a new ‘Transformers,’” many in the crowd of theater exhibitors could be overheard saying. Indeed, Guillermo del Toro’s July release — the first he’s directed in five years — does prominently feature hulking, mechanical robots. But the filmmaker believes “Pacific Rim” and Michael Bay’s franchise share little in common. “I think that the reference of the mechanics — the robot design — is completely different than that universe,” he said, referring to “Transformers.” “But if [moviegoers] are talking about how big the franchise is, I welcome it. If anyone says there are any visual similarities, they are design blind.” Del Toro was sitting in the basement of the Colosseum at Caesars Palace on Tuesday, shortly after a new trailer for his film was […]

Visionary genre talents Guillermo del Toro, Frank Darabont, Roland Emmerich, John Carpenter and Chris Carter will be among the special guests at the fourth annual Hero Complex Film Festival, set to take place May 10-12 at the Chinese 6 Theatres in Hollywood. The festival will open May 10 with a double feature from writer-director Carpenter — a 25th anniversary screening of “They Live” and a 35th anniversary screening of his landmark horror film “Halloween.” The always candid and entertaining Carpenter will appear in person between the films to discuss his career, which has produced genre favorites such as “Assault on Precinct 13,” “Escape From New York,” “The Thing,” “Big Trouble in Little China,” “Starman” and many more. On May 11, writer-director Darabont will be on hand for an afternoon screening of his 2007 Stephen King adaptation “The Mist,” the riveting […]

Director Guillermo del Toro revealed previously unseen footage from his upcoming robots vs. kaiju film “Pacific Rim” during the film’s WonderCon panel Saturday. He also unveiled the Alex Ross-created cover art for a “Pacific Rim” graphic novel. The film, slated to hit theaters July 12, is set in the near future when a race of alien kaiju threaten our world. Humans pilot 25-story-tall robots called Jaegers to fight them off. Del Toro introduced a WonderCon-exclusive trailer during the panel Saturday, held in the Anaheim Convention Center’s 9,000-seat arena. PHOTOS: WonderCon 2013 cosplay The visually rich and action-packed trailer featured plenty of combat between the massive mechanical soldiers and the enormous alien monsters, who rise from the sea to destroy human cities. In one scene, a human-piloted robot drags a steamship through wet streets with one hand, lifts it, and uses […]