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Guillermo Del Toro Biography
A Life in Pictures: Guillermo Del Toro, from British Academy of Film and Television Arts
Guillermo Del Toro was born October 9, 1964 in Guadalajara Jalisco, Mexico. Raised
by his Catholic grandmother, Del Toro developed an interest in filmmaking in his early
teens. Later, he learned about makeup and effects from Dick Smith (The Exorcist)
and worked on making his own short films. At the age of 21, Del Toro executive
produced his first feature, Dona Herlinda and Her Son (1986).
Del Toro spent almost 10 years as a makeup supervisor, and formed his own company,
Necropia in the early 1980's. He also produced and directed Mexican
television programs at this time, and taught film.
Del Toro got his first big break when Cronos (1992) won
nine academy awards in Mexico, then went on to win the International
Critics Week prize at Cannes. Following this success, Del Toro made his first
Hollywood film, Mimic (1997), starring Mira Sorvino.
Del Toro had some unfortunate experiences working with a demanding Hollywood studio
on Mimic, and returned to Mexico to form his own production
company, The Tequila Gang. In 1998 his father was kidnapped in Mexico, which prompted del Toro
to move abroad to live as an expatriate. His father was returned safely, and Del Toro has
mentioned, very tongue in cheek, that his dealing with the kidnappers was not as
traumatic as his experience filming Mimic.
Next for Del Toro, was The Devil's Backbone (2001),
a Spanish Civil War ghost story. The film was hailed by critics and audiences alike,
and Del Toro decided to give Hollywood another try. In 2002, he directed the
Wesley Snipes vampire sequel, Blade II.
On a roll, Del Toro followed up Blade II with another
successful comic-book inspired film, Hellboy, starring
one of Del Toro's favorite actors, Ron Perlman.
In 2006 came Del Toro's masterpiece, Pan's Labyrinth. Taking nearly two years to make,
Del Toro put his heart and life into this film, and even gave up his salary in order to make
sure the end product matched his vision. His efforts paid off - the film,
an "adult fairy tale" taking place during the Spanish Civil War, won critical praise, and became
the highest grossing Spanish film ever at the U.S. box office. It went on to win three academy awards for
Best Makeup, Best Art Direction, and Best Cinematography (for Guillermo Navarro).
GDT followed up Pan's Labyrinth with the commercial success of Hellboy 2: The Golden Army, which was released
in July of 2008. Hellboy 2 reached #1 at the box office on its opening weekend. Del Toro will begin production
in 2009 on his next film The Hobbit, which will be produced by Peter Jackson.
Thanks to Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide.
Links:
Guillermo Del Toro on IMDB
Guillermo Del Toro on Wikipedia
Guillermo's Personal Thoughts
My Favorites
Things You Can Tell By Looking At Me
On Carlos Schwabe
On Felicien Rops
On Arnold Bocklin
On Odilon Redon
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