Comic-Con: Guillermo del Toro

(Old movie projector plays)

(Krista Smith) Can you talk about it or no?

It's not...

(Guillermo Del Toro) A little bit yeah..

Not much but it is a gigantic,

insanely,

creative,

crazy,

giant monster movie. (Chuckles)

Is it still Pacific Rim,

Yeah.

Is that the working title of it?

Pacific Rim.

No, it is the title.

Okay, I should say that Pan's Labyrinth

is one of my favorite movies.

Thank you.

It's a beautiful film.

I adore it.

Oh!

If you can look for the companion film to it,

it's called The Devil's Backbone.

Okay.

And it is my favorite movie above Pan's.

Okay.

So if you can look for it, look for it.

I will look for it.

How's the Comic Con been so far?

You just got in here, you obviously flew from Canada

Yeah

Didn't you? I just landed.

Mary Parent didn't want me to come

(Krista laughs)

because I have bulging disc in my back.

(Inhales) Oh!

And the doctor was not clearing me to fly but,

I needed to be here.

What is it about Comic Con that you love?

The floor, the fans, the people, the humanware.

I mean the fact that you can thoroughly interact

with 6,500 of your peers,

people that love what you love,

that are passionate about what you are passionate,

it's fantastic.

That's great!

And you're here with Don't Be Afraid of the Dark?

Indeed!

And as a cheerleader of the movie,

I must say it's very scary

and creepy. Is it?

Super creepy!

I just read the description.

Obviously I haven't seen it yet

and I saw that Katie Holmes is in it

and she comes in, I guess.

From what perspective is the film? The girl?

The film's from the perspective of a little girl

that comes to live with her stepmother and father.

It's essentially like a really scary fairy tale.

And so it's a very classic spooky movie.

It's not a gory,

brutal movie.

It's really just incredibly spooky, atmospheric,

very scary, a lot of jumps, but

in a good way.

Do you get scared when you're actually making it?

No, I get scared of the budget.

(Laughs) Of the budget?

That's the scariest part, yeah.

What made you want to do this kind of film?

Like a scary, eerie, and freaky?

I'm a creepy guy!

Yeah?

I'm a very strange man.

You're not that creep guy.

I was a very weird kid

and I grew up as a monster kid.

You know, I grew up with magazines like

Famous Monsters of Filmland,

Mad Magazine,

all the comic books,

and I think my mind was just malformed

into loving monsters.

And this movie particularly has some really brutal

little monsters.

Um hmm.

All right,

so in the scheme of the monsters in this movie

and your Hellboy monsters,

I mean do you have a certain kind of attachment

for where you put them in your heart?

I love them all.

I love all the monsters.

These monsters are very nasty.

The monsters on Hellboy are sweet.

They're really sweet!

They're kind of adorable.

The monsters here are the nastiest little things

you've seen other than Hollywood executives. (laughs)

Ha ha!

That's saying a lot actually.

That's them, nasty and unforgiving.

I'm talking about the creatures.

The creatures, not the executives.

Well maybe, maybe not, I don't know.

Well, one of my favorites,

and a friend of mine Selma Blair,

Yeah

obviously is in Hellboy

and I always loved talking to her

when she was in the last one.

She's like everyone's in hair and makeup

and I don't have to do anything.

No.

She's the one normal element.

Yeah.

Which is beautiful.

Selma is such an other worldly,

beautiful,

ethereal presence.

Um hmmm.

And I think we were very blessed

with having her for the Hellboy movies.

She's good.

How important is casting for you?

The most important thing.

I mean I think that people say this or that director

is a good actor's director.

The reality is the best direction of actors

you can do is cast them well.

Um hmmm.

Cast them well and I really think that

Ron Perlman is Hellboy.

Um hmmm.

His makeup is incredibly elaborate

and technically complicated

but I could have painted him red.

Um hmmm.

And he would have still been Hellboy, you know.

Um hmmm.

And tell me about the young girl that's cast in

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark.

Bailee.

Bailee, it is? Yeah.

Bailee Madison.

She's a brilliant actor.

Where did you find her?

Here in the States?

Yeah, we were casting and we had seen dozens and dozens

of kids, as you always do.

And then Natalie Portman

Umm

was a good friend of Alfonso Cuaron.

Um hmm, of course.

She told us I just worked with this girl.

I heard you're looking for a girl for your movie

and this is fantastic.

And we contacted her.

Oh, that's great.

They had done a movie called Brothers.

All right, okay, okay, that's right.

Wow!

All right,

so let me just talk a little bit about,

while we let you go,

about the new movie.

So your Pacific Rim is promising a whole other slew

of monsters

from your brain. Yes, yes.

And there are more and more to come?

No, no, there's never...

There's never an end to it.

Never an end to the monsters.

We can produce more monsters than any movie can take.

Oh, that's great.

Well, it's so nice to see you.

Same here.

Thank you so much. Thank you!

I'm a huge fan of yours.

I'm a great ally.

Yeah.

I cannot tell you.

Seriously, I knew it because we'd been friends for 10 years.