While Guillermo del Toro continues to not work on Hellboy 3, the fantastical director has a new film coming out. The Shape of Water, which stars Sally Hawkins as a mute janitor who befriends an aquatic creature in captivity. It recently premiered at the Venice International Film Festival, where it received near-unanimous praise. “A ravishing, eccentric auteur’s imagining, spilling artistry, empathy, and sensuality from every open pore,” Variety‘s Guy Lodge wrote in a glowing review, “it also offers more straight-up movie for your money than just about any Hollywood studio offering this year.”
It’s the 10th feature-length movie he’s directed, but first in his heart.
When asked by the Los Angeles Times about The Shape of Water being his most “personal” film to date, del Toro replied, “It’s the movie that I like the most. It’s this one, then The Devil’s Backbone, then Pan’s Labyrinth, then Crimson Peak, and so on and so forth. That’s the order for me — it doesn’t mean people have to agree. It’s sort of the aim-and-target quotient for a filmmaker — did it land where I wanted it? This landed exactly where I wanted it.”
It’s standard practice for a director or writer (del Toro co-wrote Shape with Vanessa Taylor) to say their most recent project is their “best one yet,” but I believe him. For one thing, he’s right: The Devil’s Backbone and Pan’s are his most accomplished movies. Also, del Toro didn’t list Pacific Rim, which isn’t.
The Shape of Water opens on December 8.
(Via the Los Angeles Times)
