Guillermo del Toro's "The Shape of Water"

[terry78]

lol, he may as well have just done a ****ing remake of Creature from the Black Lagoon.

 

[Silvermoth]

Could be a coincidence.

Also, a GDT creature from the black lagoon would be awesome!

 

[Lily Adler]

I wonder if someone looks deeper, they would find more stuff like this from GDT's filmography.

 

[Matt Mortem]

They'll be hard pressed to prove anything in court I think. It's definitely somewhat similar, but proving Del Toro saw and knowingly copied that short will be tough to do. If anything there's a bigger case for Del Toro ripping off Mignola than any short film.

 

[redhawk23]

Considering how much of Shape of Water is just expanding on what GDT did himself in 2004 and 2008 I don't think those claims hold much...water.

GDT began script work for this in 2011.

So many people have approached GDT with theories that this is actually an Abe prequel that he had to come out and state that it was not.

 

[Silvermoth]

I think it kind of is in a wink wink nudge nudge kind of way. Maybe GDT had some ideas for Abe that didn't work out so that's where this idea came from

 

[redhawk23]

I think it kind of is in a wink wink nudge nudge kind of way. Maybe GDT had some ideas for Abe that didn't work out so that's where this idea came from

Much of Del Toro's Abe has pretty much nothing at all to do with anything that was in the comics prior to the film. A lot of it probably floated around in his head and sketchbooks for a long time prior.

 

[Silvermoth]

Yeah I tried to read the comics because I thought Abe was cool and honestly was a bit dissapointed in what I got

 

[redhawk23]

Yeah I tried to read the comics because I thought Abe was cool and honestly was a bit dissapointed in what I got

The BPRD comics, which not coincidentally came after the movie do a lot more to allow comic Avr to be a real character.

 

[Silvermoth]

Yeah? I read the solo and to be honest maybe my mind just wasn't in the right place

 

[redhawk23]

A review!

http://collider.com/the-shape-of-wa...utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=collidersocial

Actually , I skimmed it seems unnecessarily spoiler filled.

 

[LoganGambit87]

its getting very good reviews

 

[redhawk23]

http://variety.com/2017/film/reviews/the-shape-of-water-review-1202543729/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/shape-water-reviewguillermo-del-toros-beautiful-blood-curdler/
There are many others. Haven't seen a negative take yet.

 

[redhawk23]

 

[Kane52630]

 

[redhawk23]

It's like a not terrible version if Hathaway's monologue from Interstellar.

 

[Kane52630]

Very much so.

They didn't even have to release a trailer for this, just that statement.

 

[Boom]

Sounds like Shape of Water is a return to form for Del Toro. I'm thrilled.

 

[redhawk23]

Sounds like Shape of Water is a return to form for Del Toro. I'm thrilled.

I don't think I'm being unfair if I say he might have been helped by writing scenes that avoid actual dialogue. It's funny that both he and Nolan might have made that move in different ways this year.

 

[Gabe99]

THR AUGUST 31, 2017:
After its Venice debut, critics are in love with the latest movie from Guillermo del Toro.

THR AUGUST 31, 2017:
'Shape of Water': Guillermo del Toro on Why America Needs a Cold War Fairy Tale Today

Thus far into the Venice Competition, no one has received longer or louder applause than Guillermo del Toro and his new romance fantasy film, The Shape of Water. Already tipped to be a top contender during awards season, the film has been a hit with critics and audience-goers alike.

Spoiler

Set during the Cold War, the movie centers on Elisa (Sally Hawkins) as a mute cleaning woman who falls in love with an aquatic monster (Doug Jones) that the U.S. government is holding captive. Government agents led by Strickland (Michael Shannon) believe the creature and its complex breathing system may hold the key to beating the Russians in the space race. Octavia Spencer and Richard Jenkins play Elisa's similarly lonesome friends who help her on her mission to protect the creature from the Strickland's increasingly malicious plans.

If fairy tales are generally written in times of great trouble, it's no accident that del Toro has made his latest film for 2017, a year he believes is in great need of a strong fairy tale. "The movie is an antidote to now," the director told The Hollywood Reporter. "It's so difficult to talk about love and not sound silly, but I do believe the antidote to what we are living, which is a time full of hatred and division, is this humanistic possibility."

Despite taking place during the Cold War, critics have noted that the film feels very much in the present day, and not just because Russia is again a new headline. "It's really a movie about now, and '62 is very important because when Americans talk about making America great again, I think they are dreaming of that era," he said. "1962 is a moment when America is believing in the future. Everything is about the future: Everything is about the space race, the cars have jet fins, the kitchen and house are all modern. The way the wife is presented is super pristine, and neighborhoods are modern. Everything is about the future."

Del Toro believes it's important to show that this dream was for only a select group of Americans and thus was impossible to achieve. "You have John F. Kennedy in the White House. It's Camelot. It's a golden moment in America, and then Kennedy is shot. They continue Vietnam and then comes the disillusionment," he said. "So I think it's the last moment when America believes in a dream that never quite crystallized. I think it's important to show that [despite] the promise that existed in 1962, racism, sexism, all of that is still happening now."

Del Toro makes his Venice comeback after his fellow three amigos found great Oscar success with Lido launches: Alfonso Cuaron with Gravity and Alejandro Inarritu with Birdman. But despite the external success, del Toro noted that things are not always as easy as they seem. "I can tell you our careers look one way from the outside and another way from the inside. It's been very hard, and nothing has happened easily," he explained. "Alfonso doing Gravity was incredibly difficult, and politically very difficult. I would love the myth that anything has been easy, but it's been really, really hard. Alfonso, many, many, many times in Gravity, he took technology and pushed it 10 years. The technology that was developed to do Gravity didn't exist. It was made by Alfonso and Emmanuel [Lubezki]."

For del Toro, every film is still a struggle to finance. "I never make it easy on myself. I wish I did. There is a gene in my DNA that makes things very complicated," he said. "When they say, 'What is your next movie about? It needs to be something really, really, really great.' I don't say, 'Well, it's an action movie about car thieves,' or 'It's a horror movie about a living doll.' It's never that simple. I need to say, 'Well, it's a Cold War fairy tale about a woman falling in love with a creature.' It's like, 'Oh, really? Good luck.' It's never easy, but I think the things that make them hard to finance or get off the ground are what makes them interesting. This movie took six years. Hellboy, which is as personal for me as anything else, eight years. Devil's Backbone, 10 years. So you wait for the unsuspecting financier to give you money."

Highly anticipated del Toro project Pinocchio has been in the works for over a decade. And although the puppets and designs are ready to go, he is still waiting for the financing. "It's Pinocchio the way [Carlo] Collodi wrote it but against the rise of Mussolini's fascism," he said. "So it's not easy. I tell you there is always one thing where I **** it up."

 

[Luigi]

Pleased to see overwhelmingly positive reviews. GDT is back.

 

[Silvermoth]

Yay as far as I'm concerned he never left but didn't I tell everyone people loved water. Told you it was going to work

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Yay as far as I'm concerned he never left but didn't I tell everyone people loved water. Told you it was going to work

Same, he never left for me and I have loved his last few movies also. Really looking forward to this now though.

 

[Abudefduf]

Just checked Rotten Tomatoes and wow... critics are really liking this movie.

There goes my theory that fish dude is actually evil.

 

[redhawk23]

Just checked Rotten Tomatoes and wow... critics are really liking this movie.

There goes my theory that fish dude is actually evil.

He is said to be very powerful and the film apparently plays around with the idea that the "god"status the Amazonian tribes place on him might not be misplaced.

I think some people are going to get ****ED up in that facility.