Oct 15th 2013, 20:46, by Kevin P. Sullivan
Guillermo del Toro is a unique kind of director because he doesn't hide behind denials and institutionalized secrets when it comes to make big-budget projects. He wants everyone to join in on the fun, and that's why he usually knocks it out of the park when it comes time for home video extras.
We spoke with del Toro over the phone about the release of "Pacific Rim," and he shared why sharing is such a big part of the process for him.
Clip past the job to read out interview with Guillermo del Toro about the "Pacific Rim" Blu-ray.
What role does behind-the-scenes material play in your filmmaking?
Year and years ago, when I did "Chronos," my first movie, in my first interview I said in a strange way that my films and what I do were basically personal ads. I wanted to identify and seek and make contact through what I do. That is very personal and intimate of who I am. Growing up in Mexico in a middle-class neighborhood in Guadalajara, I was an even more rare bird than you would be growing up in Burbank. I was a really strange kid. I think that "Pacific Rim," not only the Blu-ray, but the film itself, is a complete mad letter of love to things I loved as that kid. To be able to share the process has been an essential part of my filmmaking personality. There are filmmakers that don't want to reveal or share the process. I am the opposite. I truly, truly love sharing and revealing the process because that's what I was nurtured by when I used to read "Famous Monsters of Filmland."
I think it's great to make contact with the new generation of kids or filmmakers that are coming up in the genre because it's a very lonely genre. Very few people really appreciate it for what it can be. Most people think it's torture porn and found footage or b-movies. Within those constraints in the genre, you can evoke beauty or great artistry to creating images. That's my message my message constantly. Part of that is to be able to share the process, so people can know how minute and detail-oriented the process can be. If any movie was detail-oriented, it was "Pacific Rim." We had to accumulate thousands upon thousands detail to create a genre reality that felt like a world you were stepping into.
What was the most important aspect of the production to share on the Blu-ray?
The one thing that I think is the most important is to put a very, very fine note on the idea that when people talk about computer animation or a movie being effects-driven, I think in my case that's a big mistake. First of all, I want to point out that we did frame-by-frame animation, not motion capture.
We put incredibly, incredibly detailed directing into the animation, not only the camera angles. All of those choices are directorial choices, but acting choices and pantomime choices that the animators put into the character were real character construction. It's a misnomer to say computer animation the same way you don't call a Rembrandt a brush painting. It is the technique. It is the tool, the computer. The animators are all artists.
"Pacific Rim" is available on Blu-ray and DVD now.
