LA TIMES HERO COMPLEX FILM FEST

GdT takes part in Q&A at this year’s HERO COMPLEX FILM FEST on May 11th at 7pm.  GdT will presents a double feature of Devil’s Backbone and Pan’s Labyrinth.

tickets are on sale now.

here is the link for all the details:

http://events.latimes.com/herocomplex/film-festival/

It is that time of year again – the great Pilgrimage to San Diego for all things movies, monsters and comics.  And, as always, it is one of your best opportunities to meet Guillermo and get some sweet GDT swag!  So what is in store for you this year?  Lots of PACIFIC RIM, of course, but there are other surprises in store for you as well at SDCC!  Find out in DTF’s official Comic Con preview!!!

BLADE II BLU-RAY AND PALE MAN SIGNING AT GENTLE GIANT (Friday)

Friday is your first opportunity to get Guillermo’s autograph, and also some nice GDT merch.  At the Gentle Giant booth on Friday at 1-2:30, GDT will be signing the new Blade II Blu-ray and the Gentle Giant Pale Man statue.  The Blade 2 blu-ray features a comic con exclusive Reaper bust – only 500 sets available (cost: $99).  To read a review of the BluRay, click here. (The Blu-Ray is available in stores now, but not the Reaper bust – it is exclusive to Comic Con).

The Pale Man statue (from Pan’s Labyrinth) is priced at $225, with only 300 available.  See picture below:

In addition to getting Guillermo’s autograph, you can also get the autograph of the Pale Man himself, Doug Jones, at the Gentle Giant booth on these dates: Friday 11am-Noon, and Saturday, 11am – 1pm.

Word of advice from our SDCC veteran and fellow DTF fan – buy the BluRay and the Pale Man statue early on Friday – just in case (you never know if they might sell out during the signing).

PACIFIC RIM (Saturday)

If you are a GDT fan, this is the one event you HAVE to make:  the Legendary Pictures Preview of PACIFIC RIM, scheduled for Saturday, July 14th from 2:30 – 5:00pm at Hall H.  GDT will be there for a special preview, and, although I have no official knowledge of the presentation, I would be SHOCKED if he wasn’t bringing some nice clips to share.  Two things – 1) make sure you get in line early, and 2) if you are bringing little ones, bring some ear muffs.  Guillermo’s Comic Con presentations are legendary for “colorful” language.

Also, you will definitely want to get your hands on the exclusive Comic Con PACIFIC RIM poster, shown below!!

THE STRAIN (Sunday)

Guillermo will signing copies of the THE STRAIN graphic novel at the Dark Horse comics booth on Sunday at 1:00pm.  It is listed as a “ticketed” event, so check in early with the Dark Horse booth to get details.

The San Diego Comic Con is a great opportunity to meet Guillermo, and he always leaves a positive impression with his fans.  What can you say? He’s just a great guy, as you will find out.  But for those who can’t make it, or for those who would like a little preview of what to expect, here is some great historical moments from past GDT appearances in San Diego:

Also, I found this funny little article at DreadCentral about one man’s encounters with Guillermo Del Toro at past Comic Cons.  A fun read.

Have fun DTF’ers, and please report back on your trip to SDCC!

Optimum Home Entertainment just released a Guillermo Del Toro Special Edition Blue-Ray Box Set in the UK. The set includes Cronos, The Devil’s Backbone and Pan’s Labyrinth.

The box set sells for £74.99 and has some pretty cool packaging. The cover is the image above, but also there is a 3D fold out:

Here are the details on the disc extras:

CRONOS

• Geometria short film (new extra);
• Guillermo del Toro interview (new extra);
• Director’s notes (new extra);
• Gallery;
• Guillermo Navaro interview;
• Audio commentary with Guillermo del Toro
• Original Guillermo del Toro interview.

The Devil’s Backbone

• Video Prologue by Guillermo Del Toro (new extra);
• Of Ghosts And Fauns: Del Toro’s Spanish Civil War;
• Behind the scenes featurette;
• Special effects featurette;
• Trailer;
• Storyboards;
• Biographies;
• Audio commentary by Guillermo Del Toro.

Pan’s Labyrinth

• Motion comics (new extra);
• Video Prologue by Guillermo Del Toro;
• The Guardian Interview at the NFT with Guillermo Del Toto;
• The Power of Myth;
• DVD Comic Sketches: The Pale, the Fairies, the giant Toad and Pan;
• El Fauno y Las Hadas;
• The Colour and the Shape;
• Storyboard/thumbnails;
• VFX Plate Compare: Guillermo Del Toro and the Green Fairy;
• Director’s Notebook;
• The Melody Echoes the Fairy Tale;
• Mercedes’ Lullaby;
• Poster Gallery;
• Trailer.

Very nice. If you live in the UK – GET THIS!

It has been several years in the making, but Gentle Giant is close to releasing their PAN’S LABYRINTH busts. You can check them out this year at SDCC – but if you can’t wait (or won’t be there) here are some pictures and details:

Faun Mini Bust
Price: $70.00
Limited Edition of 500
Designed in 1:6 scale
https://www.gentlegiantltd.com/catalog/product/detail/615

Pale Man Mini Bust
Price: $70.00
Limited Edition of 500
Designed in 1:6 scale
https://www.gentlegiantltd.com/catalog/product/detail/614

Guillermo Del Toro and Doug Jones will be signing at the Gentle Giant boot at SDCC 2010. Check schedule for times!

As 2009 comes to a close, I’ve noticed that PAN’S LABYRINTH has popped up on a few “Best Films of the Decade” lists.

In fact, Metacritic.com just named PAN’S LABYRINTH the overall top movie of the decade based on a score of theatrical reviews.

It also got a shout out in the NJ Star-Ledger. Metronews Canada called it “one of the decade’s most amazing movies.”

The best quote comes from Lucy Jones of the Telegraph, who said “I walked out of Pan’s Labyrinth feeling like a piece of gum on a frozen pavement. Spat out by a serial killer.” She ranks the scene with Ofelia in the Pale Man’s lair as the #9 Scene of the Decade.

It is great to see that the film is sticking with people. This is evidence that it will remain as an all-time classic.

You can read the transcript from Guillermo’s live chat at UniversalHiDef.com in our Message Board. Here are a couple of newsworthy highlights:

Q:Will there be a Lobster Johnson or Abe Sapien movie/miniseries/etc as in the comic books?
A:I would love to a BPRD series happen and we will pitch it to NBC/Universal/sci-fi next year. but still undetermined…

Q:Will there be a Blu-Ray version of El Espinazo del diablo? If so what kind of extras can we expect?
A:yes. javier and i are working on it right now. it is my hope that we can provide with many more extras than what we have soo far..including the old dvd commentaries and perhaps do an exploration of the trasnalation of gothic. Perhaps do a doc on what gothic romance is and how it got translated into the context of the spanish civil war.

Q:Any followups similar to Devil’s Backbone and Pan’s Labyrinth in mind?
A:About a boy named saturn that brings about the end of the world. apocolyptic scene from his apartment. the end of the world, but through the eyes of an eight year old. This was like pan’s labyrinth and devil’s backbone when we finished them

Our friends at TORN have provided us with a transcript of a chat with Anthony Moody, who recently had an extended interview with GDT. Moody mentions this fascinating story about Ofelia’s encounter with the Pale Man:

By the way [GDT] also mentioned something really interesting which is when she goes into to see (and I forget the characters name) – the Monster with the eyes on his palm… [Sohaib: “Oh, the Pale Man]… Right! When she goes in to his lair and she takes the grape, he’d [Guillermo] originally wanted her to eat half the grape and then pull it back and show the other half of the grape in her hand and reveal that she had bitten a baby in half inside the grape.

So what do you think of this visual? For one, I regret that he wasn’t able to put this visual in the film, be it budget constraints or simple choice. This is such an indelible image and something that I believe fits perfectly into how Pan’s Labyrinth works as a film. 1) Guillermo wanted the film to convey a certain “uneasiness”, especially in regards to the violence. This was his way to “put-off” viewers as to the violonce of the civil war. There was nothing glamorous about the deaths in this film. This image I think would inspire that same uneasiness. It would stay with you. 2) There is foreshadowing here, for sure – Ofelia’s destiny is entwined with the fate of her little brother. Her choice to eat the grape against the rules, to rebel, signifies the power that she holds. But is the baby her brother? I don’t think so. I see it more as a forecast for her own death.

What do you think?

The last in my series of GDT quotes on the topic of fairy tales:

Interview by Elvis Mitchell

EM: We’ve talked about this before, but one of the things that used to make movies terrifying–all those B pictures we grew up on, the fantastical stories we’ve talked about, even Grimm’s fairy tales, is that–
GT: Children die.

EM: Absolutely.
GT: That aspect of things is mostly sanitized from even the news now. When you’d see footage of a war in the ’70s, you would get the occasional retina-burning image of a family running away, being doused with napalm, or a little girl screaming. To me, that’s war. It’s not soldiers in uniforms looking cool or great night footage of rockets flying. War is when it hits your child or your mother or your grandmother. When you read any of the great fairy tales, be it Oscar Wilde or Hans Christian Andersen, or be it in the oral tradition, they all have a very strong element of pathos.

EM: Which is something that you have in Pan’s Labyrinth. In fairy tales we’re used to the possibility of wrongs being righted. But that doesn’t necessarily happen In this movie.
GT: Because the little girl might have the moment that is an exact quote of the little matchbook girl in Hans Christian Andersen, where she lights the last match and she is finally in a happy place, and she smiles, and then she dies.

EM: But what you get In American movies Is that kids represent innocence, and you can’t kill off innocence. So there’s a belief that’s sort of contrary to what you’re saying–that basically evil can consume everybody.
GT: Evil has the characteristic of being resilient. It’s harder to work toward what’s right, the common good. It’s easier to be selfish.

EM: So you’re saying that evil is easier because it’s an easy way out.
GT: It’s the easiest way out. It is the straight path, the shining path, the most tempting path. The rewards of modesty or goodness or kindness are far more subtle.

EM: But those rewards that you’re talking about–the ones that come with sacrifices and compromises–are about being an adult.
GT: That’s why I think the best way to address these little truths is in fables. This conversation is taking place, and we may be nodding or not, but the reality is that fables get at what we’re talking about so much more efficiently.

EM: Do you think you could make a movie like Pan’s Labyrinth in America?
GT: No. Never. Impossible. Because the biggest stigma of genre or fantasy movies is that they are supposed to be watered down. The studio’s mentality is like, “How do we make this fully accessible?” If we had tested the movie with an audience, the ending would be completely different.

EM: If Bambi [1942] were made today, his mother wouldn’t die.
GT: No. But Walt Disney, the original man, anti-Semite or not, the guy understood the value of pathos. Fantasia [1940], Pinocchio [1940], Alice in Wonderland [1951]–they’re all full of darkness.

EM: Do you feel now like you’ve had a chance to expunge some of the darker fairy tales that you wanted to get out of your system?
GT: I would like to continue. You know, Hellboy II is also a bit of an exploration of the fairy world. It’s a funny thing: I have an impediment that most certainly makes me the least accurate judge of what it is, but to me, Hellboy is the sort of film I’ve done that I group with The Devil’s Backbone and Cronos and Pan’s Labyrinth. I don’t group it with Blade II [2002] or Mimic. I think of Hellboy as a personal movie, strangely enough. I can defend Blade II and say that I love it, but it’s not as personal a movie in the way that Hellboy is for me. Hellboy II is even more personal to me than Hellboy. I really have a grand plan for taking him all the way to the fulfillment of his destiny.

EM: And you’re not a guy who tends to be drawn toward happy endings.
GT: Not really. There was a great phrase that I love in a screenplay written about a decade ago where a demon says to a guy, “Lost causes are more beautiful.” I really believe that.