in Focus
the study of contrasts between light and eye candy, the film works at a subliminal would be artistically successful and I
dark. Another painting term, Palimpsest— level. I loved the messages you managed to certainly found it incredibly moving on a
the presence of previous efforts making a convey through props, set dressing… personal level. Both Pan’s and Hellboy
ghostly impression on a new work of art— I’m glad you caught that. You will notice II share a disheartening belief that
could also be applied. Talking with that right from the beginning it’s peppered mundane concerns are essentially
Guillermo del Toro is not unlike enjoying with symbols of fatherhood and fertility. railroading magic; exterminating the
one of his films; it’s a thrill ride that leaves Like the fertility goddess in the auction— spirituality of our life as symbolised by
you entertained and inspired, but beneath the sign on the street in front of the troll this world of magical creatures in both
his bromidic zeal, there’s deep meaning market with the pregnant woman that films. I never thought this would be
and substance hiding in every dark corner. says, “You decide”. Hellboy has a weapon something that would catch on. I thought
he calls “the big baby”—he carries the baby these are small concerns for a small group
When we first chatted in 2004 about the without yet knowing he himself is going to of people, but apparently not.
original Hellboy, you said, “I am Hellboy.” be a father. The first time we find out that
Are you still Hellboy? Liz is pregnant is through a bulging wall I think perhaps that’s because you express
I am! You know the two movies— that looks like a pregnant belly and so much empathy with the worlds and the
obviously in a metaphorical way—are fallopian tubes… You are not meant to creatures that you create.
autobiographical in a strange way. They notice all of these things, but to absorb them. In fact it’s not exactly ambiguous which side
“The characters in
my films all have
to struggle with
an unspoken
secret shame.”
deal with things I have gone through I know from my appreciation of your films I am on. The only character in Hellboy II
myself, whether it’s about meeting and and our other conversations that you are with a moral concern, right or wrong, is the
courting my wife on the first one or going deeply influenced by art, particularly prince—the villain. I specifically designed
through the first few years of marriage and abstract and symbolist works. You never that character to have a grander concern for
becoming a father. Also it’s about learning to just toss in something that’s cool for the himself than for the people around him.
differentiate the importance of a public life sake of being cool. He has goals, and though I may disagree
and love and appreciation of a personal life. No, no… That’s why I naively insist on the with his methods, he has ideals.
idea that we are creating eye protein, not eye
As with all of your films, Hellboy II: The candy. I really believe in this. I don’t Such as in the scene in which the prince
Golden Army gets even better with multiple suppose it’s an idea that is catching fire but challenges Hellboy not to kill the Elemental
viewings. It takes that to grasp the detail it’s as true in Hellboy II as it was in Pan’s (a giant organic beanstalk of a monster
and complexity of your work. Labyrinth in that both movies may have terrorizing the city) because it, too, is a
What is very deceiving—incredibly simple narrative lines, but they are much magical creature like himself…
deceiving, I would say—is something that more complicated and elaborate than they …which in the movie/Hellboy universe is
I learned when making the first Hellboy: appear to be on the surface. a modest “to be or not to be” moment.
that is to keep the plot of the movie very
terse—almost simplistic and easy to follow, My impression of your success is in part And it also becomes a signpost in Hellboy’s
but nevertheless I layer it with little details. because, as you proved with the broad journey to the maturity he needs to become
For example, in the troll market or in the acceptance and respect for Pan’s Labyrinth, a good father. Up until that moment he’s
attack of the tooth fairies, you can see the you can tell fantasy stories that work for basically behaved like a spoiled, destructive
movie two or three times and still catch a both children and adults without dumbing child without any concern for the
monster in the corner that you never saw. them down for mass appeal. consequences of his actions. In a funny way,
The success of Pan’s Labyrinth surprised Hellboy II is a sort of coming-of-age-story.
And beneath the pure entertainment and me to a degree. I thought the movie It is in many ways.
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