Guillermo Del Toro to direct "Crimson Peak" (or not, you never know...)

[I SEE SPIDEY]

I'm just going to say it, I'm going to be blunt about it.

Del Toro might be a good filmmaker but despite what fanboys believe he is not hollywood royalty. Virtually all of his films under perform expectations, he has never directed a big hit and that wouldn't matter if he weren't doing these genre films that are expected to perform but he is. Del Toro asking for 120mil for Hellboy 3 is a joke, Del toro asking for 200 mil for At the Mountains of Madness is an even bigger joke. The studios would be idiots to give him big budgets because he has not proven that he will make them a lot of money, not even once really. He's not Christopher Nolan and he shouldn't be treated as such. Fans who whine about the studios not just handing him 200 million for his low grossing weird tentacled monster movies are being ridiculous. He only has one barely over 100mil grossing film here in the states and he should be handed the keys to the kingdom? No, that isn't going to happen.

I am prepared to eat my hat if Pacific Rim 2 actually happens.

 

[dude stannis]

The problem isn't the fanboys thinking he's hollywood royalty, not everything is their fault. The problem is Del Toro himself thinking he's hollywood royalty and refusing to play the game. Nolan played the game, made Batman. Michael Bay makes Transformers and has to kick and ****ing scream for films like Pain & Gain and Benghazi. Spielberg can't even get every project off the ground anymore. He should've shut his mouth over and over again, taken The Hobbit, taken Star Wars and earned his spot.

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

You take away all of my fanboy bashing because they ignore reality and you see that we agree with one another. Del Toro wants perks that he hasn't earned, I agree.

 

[dude stannis]

He's the root of the problem. His own worst enemy.

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

And that's why I no longer feel sorry for him when one of his projects falls through.

I loved the last line of your post because it's true. Del Toro should have directed The Hobbit for sure. And yes that would mean compromising his vision and to that I say so what? He should if he wants to make his bigger weirder films.

 

[Mysteryman]

I'm just going to say it, I'm going to be blunt about it.

Del Toro might be a good filmmaker but despite what fanboys believe he is not hollywood royalty. Virtually all of his films under perform expectations, he has never directed a big hit and that wouldn't matter if he weren't doing these genre films that are expected to perform but he is. Del Toro asking for 120mil for Hellboy 3 is a joke, Del toro asking for 200 mil for At the Mountains of Madness is an even bigger joke. The studios would be idiots to give him big budgets because he has not proven that he will make them a lot of money, not even once really. He's not Christopher Nolan and he shouldn't be treated as such. Fans who whine about the studios not just handing him 200 million for his low grossing weird tentacled monster movies are being ridiculous. He only has one barely over 100mil grossing film here in the states and he should be handed the keys to the kingdom? No, that isn't going to happen.

I am prepared to eat my hat if Pacific Rim 2 actually happens.

I don't think that you are going to have to eat your hat if Pacific rim 2 happens.
If it happens,
The budget will be much lower than anything Del Toro originally proposed .

 

[Lord]

The problem isn't the fanboys thinking he's hollywood royalty, not everything is their fault. The problem is Del Toro himself thinking he's hollywood royalty and refusing to play the game. Nolan played the game, made Batman. Michael Bay makes Transformers and has to kick and ****ing scream for films like Pain & Gain and Benghazi. Spielberg can't even get every project off the ground anymore. He should've shut his mouth over and over again, taken The Hobbit, taken Star Wars and earned his spot.

Thing with Hobbit is that it wasn't moving with him, they only started moving it forward once they had Peter Jackson on Directing duties again. Regarding Star Wars, i'm not sure he would fit a main episode, but he should definitely handle an Anthology.

What i still makes me disappointed in Del Toro is the fact that he loved Harry Potter, was offered the possibility to direct multiple times, but still kept refusing. That was one of the biggest franchises of the 2000s, doing one would have helped him pursue any project he wanted, Azkaban helped Cuaron's career a lot.

 

[PacificBoy]

I like the movie for what it is, a lush classic horror story, and a homage to Poe with a The Fall of the House of Usher influence. Too bad it doesn't have the depth to its story that would propel it to the level of Pan's Labyrinth.

 

[Greens]

Saw this movie today. I'm not that much of a Del Toro fan, but this was a well-made film. Too bad he had to resort to basic horror tropes throughout the movie.

 

[Black Narcissus]

So, I liked the film. It's a solid 7 for me. I hear GDT is doing a much smaller black n white type film next. I personally hope he goes back to his spanish film stuff. Devil's Backbone and Pan's Labyrinth are still his great films.

I actually like GDT more than the filmmaker.

 

[Octoberist]

I actually like GDT more than the filmmaker.

You hit the nail with the hammer.

I think that's why he has a cult following despite having an uneven filmography. Especially with bloggers.

See..at least Edgar Wright is able to live up to his reputation, with people living both him and his movies.

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

GDT has a fantastic personality. He's very funny and charming.

 

[Black Narcissus]

GDT has a fantastic personality. He's very funny and charming.

GDT is the Howard Dean of directors. Very likeable and can get you hyped and rally behind him but then nobody shows up. ''We are going to do the hobbit, then Mountains of madness, then dark justice, and then we're going to hollywood and bring back the horror genre.'' YEAAAAAAAH!!!

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

GDT is the Howard Dean of directors. Very likeable and can get you hyped and rally behind him but then nobody shows up. ''We are going to do the hobbit, then Mountains of madness, then dark justice, and then we're going to hollywood and bring back the horror genre.'' YEAAAAAAAH!!!

Dude it's so true.

 

[Octoberist]

My friend said it best: GDT's creativity and enthusiasm is infectious. I just wish he made better movies.

 

[terry78]

As they say there are a lot of nice people in the industry who just aren't very good at what they do. An extreme example, but you get what i mean.

 

[Black Narcissus]

My friend said it best: GDT's creativity and enthusiasm is infectious. I just wish he made better movies.

I do consider Pan's Labyrinth to be a masterpiece tho.

 

[Octoberist]

It is a great movie, i must say.

 

[Deadshot]

I'm just going to say it, I'm going to be blunt about it.

Del Toro might be a good filmmaker but despite what fanboys believe he is not hollywood royalty. Virtually all of his films under perform expectations, he has never directed a big hit and that wouldn't matter if he weren't doing these genre films that are expected to perform but he is. Del Toro asking for 120mil for Hellboy 3 is a joke, Del toro asking for 200 mil for At the Mountains of Madness is an even bigger joke. The studios would be idiots to give him big budgets because he has not proven that he will make them a lot of money, not even once really. He's not Christopher Nolan and he shouldn't be treated as such. Fans who whine about the studios not just handing him 200 million for his low grossing weird tentacled monster movies are being ridiculous. He only has one barely over 100mil grossing film here in the states and he should be handed the keys to the kingdom? No, that isn't going to happen.

I am prepared to eat my hat if Pacific Rim 2 actually happens.

I think he is overrated in every single aspect and has made plenty of bad movies. I know PR was one of the most boring and empty movies i've seen in my life.

 

[Octoberist]

Theres a part of me who are projecting onto GDT, hoping that he is the next Tim Burton (when he was actually good) or Terry Gilliam. He's made maybe 2-3 great movies but the rest of border lining schlock. I see some bloggers and even studios trying to brand him (From producer GDT) like Tarantino or whatever.

 

[Guts]

"It's not a ghost story. It's a story that has a ghost in it."

Spoiler

the ghosts are a metaphor

I felt like those lines were written for the people that thought this movie was supposed to be a horror movie.

 

[redhawk23]

The problem isn't the fanboys thinking he's hollywood royalty, not everything is their fault. The problem is Del Toro himself thinking he's hollywood royalty and refusing to play the game. Nolan played the game, made Batman. Michael Bay makes Transformers and has to kick and ****ing scream for films like Pain & Gain and Benghazi. Spielberg can't even get every project off the ground anymore. He should've shut his mouth over and over again, taken The Hobbit, taken Star Wars and earned his spot.

He did take the The Hobbit but it was bound up in a non-sense, years long labor dispute. The Hobbit films only ultimately got made due to the economic and political influence Peter Jackson was able to pull around. Laws had to be changed in two different countries to make that happen.

 

[redhawk23]

Thing with Hobbit is that it wasn't moving with him, they only started moving it forward once they had Peter Jackson on Directing duties again. Regarding Star Wars, i'm not sure he would fit a main episode, but he should definitely handle an Anthology.

What i still makes me disappointed in Del Toro is the fact that he loved Harry Potter, was offered the possibility to direct multiple times, but still kept refusing. That was one of the biggest franchises of the 2000s, doing one would have helped him pursue any project he wanted, Azkaban helped Cuaron's career a lot.

And yet even Curon refused to return to the franchise. That might not have been a machine he wanted to jump into.

 

[redhawk23]

And that's why I no longer feel sorry for him when one of his projects falls through.

I loved the last line of your post because it's true. Del Toro should have directed The Hobbit for sure. And yes that would mean compromising his vision and to that I say so what? He should if he wants to make his bigger weirder films.

Del Toro dropped out of the Hobbit because all signs pointed to it never, ever getting out of development hell.

 

[Boom]

The thing with Del Toro is you look at films like Pan's Labyrinth, The Devil's Backbone, and Cronos, and you know what he is capable of. He is capable of delivering masterpieces.

I am honestly very curious just how much free reign Del Toro's been given with his Hollywood endeavors. There's a very clear difference between his independent Spanish films and his Hollywood English films. That simply cannot be chalked up to just a language translation.

He's working in a big studio system where, until you prove yourself as a money-making director, the studios calls the shots. You want an R-rated film? Make it PG-13 or we won't finance it. Here, direct this garbage script by Kurtzman. And with how Crimson Peak is performing, it's only going to get worse. He's at a point now where he has almost zero leverage when it comes to complete creative control.

I would genuinely like to see him back in the independent circuit, at least until he rebounds. Focus of smaller budget films that allow you to flex your creative muscles without having to accommodate executive mandates.