Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Late Guillermo Del Toro Costume Ideas

Wow - I've only made three posts on my blog this month! I suck! Where has the time gone? Some of it has gone to building the new Hobbit Fan Portal Site, The Shire, from Del Toro Films. The rest has been work, work, work. Anyway...
Is there anybody out there looking for some last minute costume ideas for Halloween? Well, here are some easy last minute ideas from GDT's collection of films:

Jesus Gris from CRONOS: All you need is a gray hair wig, mustache, and a bow tie with a smart looking vest. Lastly a bandaged bloody hand and mysterious looking gold scarab prop.



The Blood Pack: How about getting a group of friends to dress as the "Blood Pack" from Blade 2? Just need some fake tattoos, black leather, and lots of chrome blades and weapons from the toy store!


Captain Vidal: The ultimate GDT villain - all you need is a similar military uniform from your local costume shop, some dark shades, gloves...and a stitched up left cheek for the ultimate effect! If you have a daughter, dress her up as Ofelia (although my guess is she would rather be Tinkerbell or Hannah Montana).



Liz from Hellboy 2: Not much needed for this one, ladies. A gun, a BPRD belt buckle, a cross necklace, and you can probably fill in the rest with a visit to your local Goodwill store.


Guillermo, himself: If you are a "rotund" guy, just get some round specs, a fake beard (or a real one), black shirt, black pants, black leather jacket, and a leather notebook and you're there! This would be a great tandem costume if you had a buddy dressed up as Hellboy!


For the record, I'm dressing as "Helo" Agathon from Battlestar Galactica. My wife is dressing as his Cylon wife, "Athena", which is appropriate because she is about 3 months preggers!

I'm having me a Cylon hybrid - SWEET.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Smaug Designs: Howe and Lee

In a recent MTV Interview, GDT has indicated that some early design work was done on Smaug for THE HOBBIT:
I discussed the Smaug appearance with great detail with [Tolkien illustrators] John Howe and Alan Lee, and there's some illustrations that John did out of that meeting in London that approximate Smaug. I cannot say much more. He is becoming clearer and clearer.

I thought I would post some artwork from Howe and Lee to give you some indication on how the design *might* look. This will be GDT's vision, but there might be some common themes in the artwork that might translate to the design.

First, Howe:


What I notice with Howe's art is how the gold and fire illuminates Smaug and gives him a golden color. I wouldn't be surprised to see GDT use that in his design. Also, Smaug has a smaller head in relation to his body - almost like a Stegasaurus. What I wouldn't be surprised to see is the elimination of the "bat wings". Not that Smaug won't fly in GDT's movie - I just know Guillermo likes to think of completely original ideas, and we might expect a style of dragon wing that is completely original.

Now Lee:


I think you *could* expect to see Lee's "serpentine" version of Smaug - long and lean and very snakelike. The one problem I see with that is I would expect Smaug to be MASSIVE in the film - and the thin version of Smaug doesn't give off the same sense of power as a fat Smaug. But biologically it makes sense - Smaug could easily navigate the caves of Lonely Mountain if he was thin.

Also, I predict that GDT will go with the "snout" on the dragon face as Lee presents, even though it will be a challenge to get the character to "lip sync" with an actor's voice.

One last note: I think however the design turns out - it will make sense in one way: Smaug's appearance will be indicative of how he lives. So think about how a creature might look if it sits in a cave most of its life, hoarding gold. Would it have small eyes from sitting in the dark? Would it be lean, in order to navigate the cavern tunnels? Would its scales reflect the heat that it breathes to keep it cool? Would it seem wasted and whithered from being unable (and unwilling) to move? These are all things that Guillermo will consider when putting together a design - he will want the design to not only look cool, but he will also want it to TELL A STORY about the creature.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Bernie Wrightson's Frankenstein

Guillermo recently made this statement on his FRANKENSTEIN project in an MTV Interview:

“It will be a completely different monster. If you want to get an inkling, I would love for Bernie Wrightson to design the creature....If you know Bernie and know how he designs, that’s the creature I want to do.”

Bernie Wrightson is a comic book artist and is well known for his horror illustrations. In 1971, with writer Len Wein, Wrightson co-created SWAMP THING for DC. According to Wikipedia, Wrightson spent seven years drawing approximately 60 detailed pen-and-ink illustrations to accompany an edition of Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein.
Guillermo reportedly owns some of the original artwork.

Here are a few select images from Wrighton's FRANKENSTEIN that I like. You can view more here and here.



Thursday, October 2, 2008

Cheers and Jeers for the New TV Season

I'm slowly catching up on my television watching. The new season has been going for a couple of weeks now, so I'm ready to present my Cheers and Jeers for the new season (TV Guide, eat your heart out!)

Cheers:

Supernatural: This show keeps getting better and better. Bringing Dean back from the bowels of hell will add a great new subplot to the season. Sam is growing more and more powerful, which add even more mystery to the new season. Plus the show is damn funny and loaded with inside jokes for movie and music buffs.

Ghost Hunters: I am addicted to this show on Sci Fi. Most people will roll their eyes at the "experiences" caught on tape, but I think the show is great entertainment, and this season in particular has me scratching my head at some of the evidence from the other side.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: This show is tasteless, crass, and hilarious. It goes beyond politically correct and it just doesn't care who is offended. In my opinion, the funniest show on television. This year's season premiere involving cannibalism and hunting humans is par for the course on how far this show will go for laughs.

Jeers:

Heroes: A very disappointing season premiere. Lazy writing dogged this episode, with no logical setup to the "secret formula" being lost, and the revelation for concocting a "Heroes syrum" was much too simple. The Sylar moment with the cheerleader was worthwhile, but for now this show has a long way to go before it matches its previous brilliance.

Smallville: More of the same - Clark's identity is in crisis and he gets help from the cheesy Justice League. Worse, Lex Luthor is missing. My only hope is that Doomsday makes an appearance and the Clark/Lois romance finally kicks into high gear. Props at least for finally moving the farm boy to Metropolis and the Daily Planet - but when do we get to see the trademark glasses?

Unknown:

I didn't get a chance to see Fringe - I missed recording it. It will have to wait until DVD - do you have any early reviews?