There have been many misconceptions about how Guillermo feels about Mimic and his experience working on the film. In a post that he made on our Message Board, he set the record straight:
Why don´t you like MIMIC?
The question was posed by BAPHOMET, a French filmmaker who went on to declare his love for that movie
There are many misconceptions about MIMIC and my feelings about it. I will love to take this opportunity at DTF to clarify a few points about MIMIC.
I don´t hate the movie for what it is- I feel hurt by what it could have been. The script that got away, the ending that was edited out, the ending that was NEVER filmed, etc
You have all heard me voice these complaints again and again. But there is NO secret that I feel VERY proud of a good 50-60 minutes of that film.
It is so difficult to make this known without voicing my displeasure, without sounding so self-absorbed
But, contained in that movie are beautiful, jewel-like moments of darkness. Some moments that will forever make me proud and that, I believe, to be amongst the best stuff I´ll ever make.
If this was ANY other site,, I would feel ashamed to clarify which moments those are
but since this website is called DTF and dearest PL has created it for such a chance, well
I´ll take the stand and declare that:
I love Carol Spier and Dan Laustsen-
I love the opening scenes: the hospital, the plague victims, etc
I love the priest being killed by God´s creatures beneath a large JESUS SAVES sign. The movie tries to be Medieval in its vision of the world. It tries to define the fact that we don´t know anything about the order of nature or the real dimension of God´s plan. It tries to say something about pride.
That is why the White Princess Mira is dragged good intentions and all- through the mud and the darkness by an unlikely archangel.
I love Mira´s hand being bitten by the Nymph insect (the baby Mimic) and the scene where she looks through pieces of paper under her desk.
I love the first visit of Chuy to the church. The broken religious symbols the plastic-covered icons, etc.
I love the first locker room scene and the scene in the garbage facility there´s Norman Reedus before BLADE II!!!
I love the killing of the kids in the subway. To my mind it is still one of the scenes I´ve shot that I feel the proudest
It is my belief that I have not shot a horror movie since MIMIC. CRONOS, BLADE II, HELLBOY and even DEVIL´S BB are hybrids. Half melodrama and/or action film and half dark fantasy WITH horror elements
But MIMIC was a bona fide MONSTER movie without much cross-breeding.
I long to do another horror movie- MOUNTAINS perhaps- hopefully- Oh, how I would love that.
I love the first FULL ON reveal of the Mimic and the kidnapping of Mira into the tunnels. It is a fairy tale moment. A moment of horror and awe that I feel truly happy with.
I love the scene of the hanging **** and the discovery of the old abandoned station. I have said in the past that all the movies I do are linked by common textures, light and shadow plays and recurring obsessions. MIMIC was so fulfilling in this sense. I find the light, the textures of Carol Spier´s sets, the rotting, antique world we created, to be almost sensual in its creation
Style over matter some would claim but images know no distinction between the two, not when they are loaded by a perverse desire to communicate a world, a smell, a feel, an atmosphere. Content and form become one and the same.
I love the attack on the subway car and the smearing of the intestinal goo
Again, on of my happiest creative moments. I really loved doing that sequence
I love the encounter in the service tunnel between Peter and the bug-
And finally, I love the death of Leonard- Why? Well, heck I just admire Dutton soooo much.
These are my moments. I own them. I recognize them. I cherish them.
But is that it?? Do I hate the rest??
Pretty much.
Will I ever give it some love??
Well, I hope to get the chance to put together a SPECIAL EDITION dvd in the future. It won´t be a DIRECTOR¨S CUT. That´s lost in time and opportunity. But I can make a better in my mind- version of the film that exists. I can add scenes that I loved I can show you the alternative ending- and I can get rid of the ones I hate (the 2 FALSE SCARES) and reedit some I dislike (Josh Brolin´s death) and that were affected by 2nd unit photography.
If that edition happens I promise it will be VERY educational. I will try within legal limits- to take you by the hand, not through the gossipy anecdotes but through the transformation of a film from conception to theatrical release.
Maybe you´ll like it, maybe you won´t. But I will feel finally at peace with it.
Because I like so many things about MIMIC...
GDT
February 1, 2006
