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PACIFIC RIM Main Trailer

Like a monster from the sea, PACIFIC RIM waded out of the sea and crushed the fans of the San Diego Comic Con.

Judging from the internet reaction, the Warner Bros./Legendary Pictures presentation at Hall H on Saturday was a big success.  Fans and media were treated to clips of giant robots and monsters duking it out in an impressive media presentation.  The enthusiastic attendees took to twitter and blogs, sharing their reaction with fans not lucky enough to be among the capacity crowd.  Some of my favorite tweets from yesterday:

@slashfilm: Someone was crazy enough to gave Guillermo hundreds of millions of dollars to play with, and we’re all invited to the toy box

@devincf: Literally choked up with awe and wonder and excitement from the PACIFIC RIM footage. Huge, thrilling

@firstshowing: Gigantic, I mean GIANT robots vs monsters, it looks so so so huge, so badass, holy sh*t wait until see you this stuff yourself.

I would venture to guess that Legendary has a big hit on their hands, and to include it with the likes of THE HOBBIT and SUPERMAN: MAN OF STEEL, which also presented, is saying big things about their expectations.

Here are some other quotes of interest, pulled from the online media reports:

Hollywood Reporter

With his Mexican accent, his eloquent profanity, and his ability to speak geek, del Toro talked of the creative process behind the movie, in which he combined his drive to make the film’s destruction as real as possible, while also retaining heart.

“No f—ing motion capture,” he exclaimed of his choice to eschew that technique to convey the Jaegers. “I don’t want the robots moving like human beings. They need to move like a shock absorber and gears move.”He also described how the production had the soundstages rigged so that sidewalks, cars, and streets actually crumbled and shook when filming monsters stalking cities.

USA Today

There are around seven different robots in the movie, del Toro said, and nine monsters, or Kaiju. His team designed 40 different monsters, “and we did an American Idol on them. The better Kaiju are the ones in the movie.

“Everybody was a fan of monsters and robots,” he added, “and we locked ourselves in adjacent rooms and played.”

To make the creatures seem more real, del Toro is putting them in elements like rain and mud, and they’ll each have different personalities and abilities. (Footage showed one shark-looking beastie getting a smackdown courtesy of a Jaeger.)

“Sea monsters, flying monsters — we have monsters out the wazoo,” del Toro said.

“When you get a big budget, you can get crazy or lazy. And I got as crazy as I could. We used madness as our fuel to make this movie.”

We also got a sneak peak into what Ron Perlman’s character will be like in PACIFIC RIM – a black market dealer named “Hannibal Chow”, specializing in delivering kaiju parts for consumption by the rich element of society (think of it like witch doctor medicine).  Sounds as if he and Charlie Day’s character, Dr. New Gotlieb, will have some comic run-ins.

You can check out IGN’s report on PACIFIC RIM below:

Also, here is an SDCC interview I found with GDT from ComicVineVideos:

Here is GDT talking about PACIFIC RIM to the Hollywood Reporter prior to SDCC:

PACIFIC RIM Pilot Suits

On the floor of the Comic Con, you could find the Jaeger pilot suit costumes.  The dark suit out front is suit you will see Charlie Hunnam wearing.  Each Jaeger is controlled by two pilots – one controlling the left side of the mech, and the other controlling the right.

PACIFIC RIM Buttons

Also check out these cool PAC RIM buttons that were given away at the Warner Brothers booth.

HELLBOY 3?

And in a surprise SDCC announcement, GDT and Ron Perlman said they would BOTH be up for HELLBOY 3 if they could get it financed.  The catalyst for this announcement was Ron’s recent appearance as HELLBOY for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.  See GDT and Ron Perlman talking about the possible reunion on EW’s site.

A Toronto news team covered a story on how Guillermo Del Toro is making over Toronto to look like Tokyo.  It is an interesting little piece that shows the detail that is going into the set design for the film – right down to the cherry blossoms.

Watch the video below:

What you may have missed are a couple of intriguing details – I froze a couple of the screens for a closer look -

IRON MAN and GAME OF THRONES composer Ramin Djawadi will score PACIFIC RIM, GDT told DelToroFilms.com yesterday. Said Del Toro:

After many months we have finally closed the scoring with Ramin Djawadi- whose scores for Game of Thrones,, Prison Break and Iron Man are amongst my favorites in the last few years.

Some other notable scores from Djawadi include BLADE: TRINITY, PRISON BREAK (Emmy nominated), OPEN SEASON and CLASH OF THE TITANS.

Here is some additional information compiled by our DTF Staffers:

Official site
http://ramindjawadi.com

2. Fright Night
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bu-L44iv1So

3. Releasing The Kraken
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6_-yutqhU4

4. Game of Thrones Theme
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVl4sp3qFqc

5. Prison Break Theme
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wxi96oXI … re=related

6. Medal of Honor OST
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YhkGky808M

7. Flashforward
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNSYsLh1CeU

8. Person of Interest
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jH-72RVMCg

9. Safe House
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WI0-hpWZ … re=related

10. Mr. Brooks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jiDHpPbYgc

A great interview and podcast with Guillermo Del Toro and video game designer Ken Levine has been posted at IrrationalGames.com.  Some great stuff in this interview, so do yourself a favor and check it out!

Web page Part 1

Direct Download Part 1

Web page Part 2

Direct Download Part 2

Irrational Podcasts RSS Feed

iTunes Feed

In a featurette from the new MIMIC BluRay, GDT talks about why we revisit movies, and the “ever-flowing” river of narrative.

Lots of news coming our way in the world of GDT – check out the full report below:

• MIMIC is finally getting a Blu-Ray release on September 27th of this year! This HD release promises new bonus materials, including an audio commentary and introduction from GDT, plus two featurettes. The featurettes will be a “behind-the-scenes” retrospective and a special look at the insect creatures.  Also included will be deleted/alternate scenes, outtakes and storyboard animatics.  Will this also be the long-awaited “director’s cut”? No mention of a new cut in the press release, so it would be surprising if it is the anticipated director’s cut of the film.
• GDT will be at the 2011 San Diego Comic Con to promote PACIFIC RIM.  Here is when you can catch him if you are attending

Thursday, July 21, 6:00 – The Visionaries: A Discussion with Jon Favreau and Guillermo Del Toro on the Future of Pop Culture.  This will be the one you won’t want to miss, folks!!  Get in line now.

Friday, July 22nd, 12:45 – Legendary Pictures Preproduction.  GDT will be joined by the unofficial cast of PACIFIC RIM, Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Charlie Day and Rinko Kikuchi

Note: Although it doesn’t say GDT will attend this panel, you might also want to check out the 2:00pm Film District panel on Thursday, since they will be celebrating the release of DON’T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK. 

• Guillermo Del Toro has confirmed that Guillermo Navarro, his long time Director of Photography, will be the DT for PACIFIC RIM.  The official start date for shooting RIM is October 31st in Toronto at Pinewood Studios.  It is slated for  July 21, 2011 release.
• Here are some nice GDT related stories you should check out:

GDT Interview Audio: “Fantasy is Rebellion…Always” (Hollywood Outbreak)

Alchemist Guillermo Del Toro Turns Creepy, Bizarre Material into Movie Gold (Vanity Fair)

Guillermo Del Toro’s Imagination is Working Overtime (L.A. Times)

• DON’T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK will kick off London’s Film4 FrightFest Film Festival on August 25th