Gilmo del Toro loves monsters. From the skyscraper-sized giants in Pacific Rim to the amphibians in The Shape of Water, creatures of all shapes and sizes appear in del Toro's work, earning him the title of "Monster Master."
But more often than not, real monsters in Del Toro's work have no scales, wings, or even jaws. Sometimes they look too human,but there's a monster lurking beneath the surface.
In an era of family-friendly entertainment and spandex-clad superheroes, the director of Jade Face Tells The Story of Making Movies for Adults.
After winning the 2017 Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director for The Shape of Water, Gilmour del Toro decided to get himself into trouble. His next project will be a long and challenging adaptation of a brutal black novel that will take four years to complete.
Luckily, Jade Face Love Demon is worth the effort. It's a tough, melancholy work of the era that feels completely different from his other films, but it could also be his masterpiece.
Jade Face Love Demon is finally complete, are you proud of it?
"Without a doubt, this is the film I'm most proud of. I dismissed a certain sense of opulence and whimsy, and I approached the work in a calmer, older way, and I was really happy with that approach. Finding a way to change before at 57 was very exciting for me.
This is your first film without fantasy elements, why?
"Personally, I've never been so happy, but as a citizen of earth, I've never been so anxious. There is an air of doom in the air, and the confusion between truth and lies is very confusing and confusing, making people lose their way. It can be ecological, personal or social, but now everything has an apocalyptic feel.
However, the biggest trend in Hollywood is still superhero movies...
"Every one or two decades, the audience changes. In the '70s, the audience was mostly adults, and then it became much younger in the '80s. Audiences are maturing and changing, but now is probably the hardest time in history to make a movie for adults. But that doesn't mean it will always be that way. Nothing is eternal.
The level of detail in the film is incredible. Where did you start designing?
"For me, every film has a very personal moment, and I started out working with only one designer. In this work, it's Guy Davis, one of my closest collaborators. We started with the so-called 'submarine', which was a very intensive months of doodling and design, and then we even hired the head of the department to make it a reality.
How long does this process take?
"About 9 months, that's a long time. But I'm completely convinced that the most sacred spaces in my craft are image and audio design. In my 30-year career, I've always made my films the way I wanted them to be and how they felt.
"Because in my opinion, whether you know it or not, 80% of a movie is experienced in a non-verbal way. Lens movement, light, color, etc., this is not eye-catching candy, this is 'eye protein'. Nothing is done purely for decoration.
You're a great collector, is there anything in the movie that you keep as a souvenir?
"Guess what.
Tarot cards?
"Tarot cards, yes! But there's also Pete's book and pickled babies. There are also lie detectors. I bought Stanton's radio myself, and I bought Stanton's bag. But I really need to leave with that baby. It's in my living room right now.
How much has your life changed since you won an Oscar for The Shape of Water?
"After you win an Oscar, you can work within a certain range. I can't say I want to make a $200 million Jade Face, but I can make it for $60 million, and I can make it with an actor. I don't think this would have happened before The Shape of Water. For the most part, these roles are written for the actors we find (who may not have been interested before...).
Speaking of actors, Bradley Cooper's performance in the film is incredible...
"There were a lot of times when I felt like I was just watching a movie and not making a movie, and it was because of Bradley. He has a talent for making everything completely emotionally real, which can be hard, like scenes full of despair and relief, or scenes where he drinks for the first time, which I think surprises.
Before watching Jade Face, I read Ray Bradbury's SOMETHING Wicked This Way COMES and noticed a lot of similarities – did that book have an impact on you?
"Well, yes, I've wanted to make this book since I was a teenager. Bradbury simply understood childhood in a complex and compelling way. This book has always shrouded me and everything I have done. It exists in the friendship between the two children in Ghost Children's House, and it exists in the turbulent universe of Pan's Labyrinth.
Would you want to adapt the book directly?
"I don't know. It's hard for me to talk about making movies that belong to the studio repository, right, because I can't control property. I've been trying to make certain films or other films, and I can sometimes do it, sometimes I can't.
In today's society, in what ways does "Jade Face Love Demon" resonate the most?
"Different characters mean different things. At a critical juncture in which we find ourselves, truth and lies depend on our vulnerability and compassion. We wanted to inject the anxiety of this era into the film. We didn't want to make a movie about that period, we wanted to make it a movie about the present.
"It's important that we're in that important moment, and we have to distinguish stories from reality through narrative lies. There is a happy ending in the middle of the movie. He got the book, he got the girl, he got the power, he left the carnival, and then there was this beautiful shot, like the big reunion ending in the movie. He left the carnival, and you see the carnival shrinking in the distance.
"One of the main things I wanted to do in the film was to edit and show, and two years later, he was unhappy. At this moment, I believe that there is an emptiness in him that needs more and more things, and I also feel very appropriate. There is a sense of urgency.
"What Stan wants is to be seen what he is. The only liberation in the film is in his last two minutes. There is terror and emptiness, but there is also a relief because he knows, 'This is me.' I'm not a magician, not an upper-society person. That's what I think of me, and I'll be the me'.
And Grindelwald wanted forgiveness. We desperately need to be human, to be able to forgive, to be able to see each other. The movie is full of this. Hopefully, these characters reflect that era.
Have these battles become easy since The Shape of Water?
"Not necessarily. Listen, what you have to understand is that in many ways, I'm trying to stay out of the way. I never thought of making simple choices.
"I mean, from 'Pan's Labyrinth' or from 'The Shape of Water' to a big Hollywood production, it's like a vacation for me and I'm going to enjoy the process. But I went to see the movies I feared the most. That's why I chose Jade Face Love Demon. I don't like simple things, I like it to be vibrant.
What will be the next battle?
"Well, I don't know if I'm going to make them, but I love The Count of Monte Cristo, The Mountains of Madness, and Frankenstein. I have more than 20 scripts that are not produced, but in all of them, it's all about these three. If I could photograph them, I think it would be a perfect life.