DON’T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK directed by Troy Nixey, written by Guillermo del Toro and Matthew Robbins based on the teleplay by Nigel McKeand, with Bailee Madison, Katie Holmes, Guy Pearce and Jack Thompson. An Alliance Films release. 99 minutes. Opens Friday (August 26). For venues and times, see Movies.
There are elements in Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark that Guillermo del Toro’s long-time fans will recognize from his other work.
A scene where the movie’s young heroine (Bailee Madison) discovers a hidden garden echoes a key moment in Pan’s Labyrinth the tooth-hungry gremlins bear a striking resemblance to the Tooth Fairies of Hellboy II: The Golden Army and the house’s creepy cellar strongly resembles a similar set in The Orphanage.
“What’s weird is, I wrote Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark in 1998,” del Toro says, relaxing at the end of a day of press. “There was no idea that Pan’s Labyrinth would ever exist, much less the idea that Hellboy would ever exist. These are just icons I like. Her wandering through the forest, that was there from the start.”
Del Toro sees the similarities as a natural result of investing so much of himself in the project, even though he entrusted the film’s direction to Troy Nixey.
“You work in a certain frequency,” he says. “I only work with directors [whom] I have an affinity [for], and Troy has a lot of affinity for me. He comes from the same sort of DNA in a way.”
Del Toro spends a lot of his spare time searching out that DNA. In addition to making his own films, he’s constantly seeking out new filmmakers and helping them put projects together.
“I literally look at a hundred or more shorts a year,” he says. “And when I find one I like, I contact the director and say, ‘I saw your short, this is my name, this is my address, keep me posted if you wanna do anything and I’ll send you stuff.’ Right now we’re producing a movie here in Toronto called Mama [by] first-time director Andy Muschietti. I saw his short and now I’m producing his movie. I’m sort of the godfather.”
Since del Toro will be hanging around Toronto for a year or so shooting his 2013 action epic Pacific Rim, we end up discussing the changes he’s seen in the city since his last long-term visit, making the creature feature Mimic in the mid-90s.
“There are areas that are a little too gentrified for my taste,” he says, “but some of the stuff around Kensington Market’s still great. [And] Dragon Lady Comics, Silver Snail, the Beguiling – all of those you can still find. A lot of [small] bookstores are closed that’s a tragedy. Pages was great.”
With Pacific Rim slowly coming together – Idris Elba, Charlie Hunnam and Charlie Day have been cast, and pre-production is chugging along out at Pinewood Toronto Studios – del Toro has had time to think about his long-term plans.
“My daughters and wife loved the city when we did Mimic,” he says, “but now my daughters are older and they’re talking about us moving here permanently. There may be a danger you’ll get another deranged filmmaker in town.”
Interview Clips
Guillermo del Toro on being identified as a genre director:
del Toro on being an executive producer:
del Toro on his interest in the idea of “transmedia” and his association with DreamWorks:
normw@nowtoronto.com
