GDT Active on TORN

TORN is "TheOneRing.net".

Guillermo has made a few posts recently on their message boards and I thought I would share them with you:

On writing The Hobbit with Fran Walsh, Phillipa Boyens:

They are so absolutely indispensable... We have a precious collaboration and they are amazingly talented and fluent and brilliant in their writing. Now, you would be surprised- some of the funniest and most tender moments come from PJ or me also- and the ladies can be quite ruthless with the character's fates!! our collaboration is not quite gender / trait specific. What is very beautiful is that we make it a point to be together in the writing process as much as humanly possible.

It also appears GDT is immensely enjoying himself:

there are times in our lives when a gift is offered to us. This experience has been that. PJ, Fran and PB are blessings in my life. The partnership is superb but meeting people with such great hearts to go along with imagination and courage is a rare thing in this world.

Guillermo was also enamored with some fan art, created by the user grammaboodawg.

WHERE can I get my hands ona copy of that art??? ITS GORGEOUS and FUNNY!! I am strangely flattered by the portrayal!!

They are in my image folder now!! (along with images of Goblins, Smaug, Spiders etc- you must know) I am happy-

The inspiration came from a Tom Scott cartoon he did for a NZ paper in December 2003



Finally, Guillermo elaborated a bit on his cameo appearance as a creature in THE HOBBIT

I had a hand on the design of the creature and I will personally sculpt the appliances that will be applied on my face and hands. I used to sculpt the creatures for NECROPIA (my FX company) and I miss it a bit. I will have a line or two and die quickly.

Blogging the SPLICE Clip

I don't know why, but this post title makes me giggle. Sounds like an edgy animated sci fi short film. Or should I say "SyFy short film."

So I watched the SPLICE clip. I was hoping for one of three things from it:

1. Biological horror
2. Ethical dilemma
3. Scary science

I should probably clarify what I mean by "biological horror." By that I mean like freaky, gooey, scary, organic horror. The perfect example of biological horror is ALIEN. Facehuggers, impregnating parasites, acidic blood, etc.

Well, I really didn't get any of those things from the clip. The beginning starts promising, with a scientist locked in a chamber when suddenly something in there starts to move. A slight sense of claustrophobia, as the camera shoots from inside the mask. My heartbeat raced just a tad.

But then I SAW the little booger. Unfortunately, he was kind of cute. Like a two-legged puppy dog. Nothing like the "facehugger" that Ripley and Newt battle. And what was kind of funny was that Adrien Brody was banging on the window shouting that it was dangerous.

That thing? That little cutey-pie? Maybe it was going to go all Monty-Python-white-rabbit on everybody.

Anyway, my point is that the clip was lacking the three things I was hoping to see from the clip. And probably part of the problem was that the clip was just out of context. Brody probably had a good reason to be freaking out, but out of context it didn't make a lot of sense.

I'm still looking forward to the film. I think it does have quite a bit of the three qualities I mentioned above. If some "spy" out there gets to see the film on Saturday at the Sitges Film Festival, drop me a line and give me a review!

Del Toro Disney Deal Deliberations

Yesterday, this blog entry had my initial thoughts on GDT's DOUBLE DARE YOU production label with Disney. My initial impression: not excited.

Today: VERY EXCITED.

I emailed Guillermo with my thoughts - which basically asked, "Is this going to be like GOOSEBUMPS?"

He replied on our message board today that it is definitely not GOOSEBUMPS - mainly for one reason: DDY is going to produce "theatrical, high end" animated films.

This is big news - a Disney animated theatrical Guillermo Del Toro film.

Disney has a historic record of creating iconic characters and classic stories. Their films span the generations. They last. They are special.

I couldn't wait to watch a movie with my 2 year old son for the first time. His attention span is short, so I wasn't sure when he would actually be able to sit still and watch a movie with his old man. One day, while the wife was out, I decided to give it a try.

I got him a sippy cup of milk, a few "cheesy poofs" for toddlers, popped in BAMBI, and sat him on my lap. From the very beginning he was mesmerized. It was like magic for him. He smiled, laughed and watched the whole thing from beginning to end. It was magic for me too, because I felt like I was sharing a part of my childhood with him.

Imagine my joy when it was over and he said, "Watch it again!"

BAMBI was made in 1942. Special.

I can tune out the cynical remarks about Disney and their pursuit of the "all-mighty dollar" because, to me that afternoon with my son is what Disney is all about.

I hope GDT's films can capture some of that same "Disney magic."

That would really be special.

Professor Guillermo

Did you know that Guillermo helped create the film school at the University of Guadalajara? Check out this excerpt from an interview with SLANT back in May of 2009.

GDT: But I went to school in Guadalajara, but it was a very small film school that we created. It became the film school of the university—but we created it. There was no film school in Guadalajara as a kid, so we said "let's make one" and eventually the university formalized it.

Slant: Were you teaching there for a while?

GDT: The first year I was learning, the second year I was teaching.

Slant: Did you like being a professor?

GDT: Yeah, I'd actually love to teach again. I really enjoy that process.

So there you go - you're little GDT fun fact for the day.

Guillermo Del Toro Book Club

GDT is a voracious reader. Technically, he says he has about "10,000 favorites", but with a little research, I've found a few books that he personally recommends:

The King in the Golden Mask, by Marcel Schwob
In a March 2002 interview with IGN.com, GDT mentioned this French writer's collection of short stories as his favorite book.
Source: IGN.com

Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens
GDT: "As a kid, you have this notion that you are out of place and out of time. I think the character of Pip relates very intensely to Dickens and to me, too. The character of Mrs. Havisham is as close as Dickens gets to those Christopher Lee gothic horror films."
Source: New York Post

Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley
GDT: "If I had to choose one movie that I'd love to see survive a burning, I'd run into the woods with the can containing 'Frankenstein.' The book is incredibly important, too. When I read it as an adolescent, I identified with the Creature. As I became a lapsed Catholic, I identified with the Creature's plea, 'Why am I here, if I didn't choose to be born?'
Source: New York Post

Pet Sematary, by Stephen King
GDT: "I think Stephen King can play the boogey man better than anyone else. Seldom has any writer tapped into the primal fear of death, absolute darkness and lack of soul to the point that it provokes almost spiritual horror."
Source: New York Post

Ficciones, by Jorge Luis Borges
GDT: "Incredibly poetic fantasy, philosophical ruminations in the form of literature . . . In many of Borges' short stories, he asks, Can an imaginary world be as real as the actual one? This book has been a seminal one for me."
Source: New York Post

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, by Carson McCuller
Charlie Rose asked Guillermo in July of 2009 if he would ever film a love story. Guillermo replied, "I would love to do Carson McCuller’s The Heart is a Lonely Hunter…I loved the old movie with Alan Arkin and Sandra Locke, but I think the book is so much more full of possibilities."

Weighing in on the latest Hobbit rumors

This report came online today from Marketsaw
http://marketsaw.blogspot.com/2009/08/rumor-mill-dark-smaug-on-horizon-plus.html

1. THE HOBBIT(s) will be in stereoscopic 3D.
2. THE HOBBIT will be shot in THREE movies - two Del Toro movies covering the book itself and a third bridge movie.
3. Peter Jackson will direct the bridge movie.
4. Smaug and the characters in THE HOBBIT will be darker than in the book.

My thoughts:

1. Maybe. I think GDT is hesitant because he doesn't want the spectacle to outweigh the story, which is so often the problem with 3D films. I do believe Jackson is in favor of it however.

2. I'm not buying it. For quite some time now, Guillermo has said there will be two movies that encompass the The Hobbit storyline. I don't find any reason for that to change, especially this late in the game. There will be some "supplemental content" - details on Gandalf's journey to find the Necromancer - but it will be interwoven into the Hobbit storyline. In other words, no bridge film.

3. Judging from interviews with PJ during the DISTRICT 9 publicity, I think he is prepared to step away from the lens and let Guillermo do his thing - and again, no bridge film.

4. Not really buying that either. GDT has always appreciated the "whimsy" of the book, and has vowed to keep that intact.

JULIA'S EYES and other things

I was very happy to see Guillermo will be producing another Spanish language thriller, JULIA'S EYES. He struck gold with THE ORPHANAGE, which was a wonderful and sad ghost story, so let's hope that it happens again. Bringing ORPHANAGE star Belen Rueda back again is a great omen.

I'm excited that I will be picking up my brand spanking new laptop today. For a computer geek such as myself, this is a big event! I finally will be stepping away from my desktop and going fully mobile about the house! This should allow me to send the occassional tweet while I watch the kids. It has been really tough lately to find the time to even do that.

Some of you may be wondering what happened this weekend with the Wizard World Convention in Chicago. I was very excited to attend and meet up with some fellow DTF'ers and get to see Doug Jones and Luke Goss. Sadly, my cousin passed away last week unexpectedly and I had to cancel my trip to attend the funeral. So what was supposed to be a highlight of my year turned into a lowlight. My cousin was only 22 years old and died in his sleep. As I write this, we still don't know why. Very, very sad - I was heart broken for his parents and sisters.

I think it part of the grieving process to meditate on death and what it means to die. I thought about it quite a bit this week. I recommend to readers here to revisit some of Guillermo's thoughts on death - they are quite interesting.