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Guillermo del Toro opened up about the negative experience of making his first film under the influence of Harvey Weinstein: «I hated the experience».
Famous for his aesthetic and conceptual perspective, Del Toro’s projects stand out for their unique blend of fantasy, drama and horror. It is, therefore, difficult to imagine a time when the director felt the pressure to compromise his vision. However, that was exactly what happened after the success of his debut, “Cronos”, which attracted the attention of Hollywood producers.
Armed with a budget fifteen times larger and the support of a studio, Del Toro now began a new phase of his career, this time with the film “Mimic”, or in Portuguese, “The Predators of New York”. However, with all these freedoms brought by increased money, and consequently better production and cast resources, the Oscar winner I didn’t have all the limitations that would come with the supervision of a major studio.
Many of these new problems originated from the same source – Harvey Weinstein, infamous (among many things), for his controlling aspect in the films he produced. With his company Miramax involved in distributing the film, the director’s creative vision ended up being limited by the influence of Harvey and his brother. The relationship between the three reached tensions that caused the duo to try to separate Guillermo Del Toro from the project. “My first American experience was almost my last […]”, reflected the director in a interview about your film “The Shape of Water” for BFI London Film Festivalin 2017: ”[…] Because I worked with Weinsteins and the Miramax.”.
The film opened to mixed reactions from critics and proved to be a complete failure at the box office. Even though visually it was exactly what he wanted, he admits that he had to compromise on many decisions related to the story and the cast, and was not satisfied with the version that reached cinemas. Fortunately, all the negativity of this production was not enough to keep him away from the director’s chair, even if it made him consider not working in American cinema again: “I learned to fight!”.
TRAILER | ”PINOCCHIO”, GUILLERMO DEL TORO’S LATEST FILM
Have you seen ”Mimic”? What is your favorite Guillermo del Toro film?
