Guillermo del Toro talks future projects and an upcoming year-long sabatical

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Recently, while visiting the Hotel Virrey de Mendoza in Morelia, Mexico, one of the film industry's most prolific directors held court for a series of one-on-one interviews. After taking up occupancy in The Salon Escudos, a tiny room at the back of the Virrey de Mendoza establishment, del Toro spoke openly about his plans for the future.

“I have two projects with Bertha Navarro which we’re studying," Del Toro said. "We’re talking about producing a film by Patricia Riggen, I can’t say the title, but she’s a super solid director, very nice person. She is the type of writer-director who can benefit from a strong production structure which helps her to express what she’s interested in." For those who've followed del Toro's movie making career, you'll recognize Navarro as the filmmaker's longterm Mexico-based producer partner and friend, who has served as producer on all of del Toro's Spanish-language features.

Earlier this year, a project involving Navarro and del Toro called AYOTZINAPA screened as a part of the Impulso Morelia festival's works in progress section. The documentary is an emotionally-crippling look at the tragic events which occurred on Sept. 26, 2014, when 43 students went missing and three more were killed in a highly controversial series of events. In the wake of the tragedy, everyone from the Mexican government to the drug cartels, military, the United Nations and independent watch groups had their own reasoning as to what led to the events of that night. As his way of honoring those affected by the event, del Toro plans to present his documenatry from the perspective of the families of the missing victims, and the students who'd survived the struggle.

In speaking about AYOTZINAPA, del Toro addressed his interviewers by saying, “the documentary which screened, Bertha told me we need to make some changes, get some more material. From the moment she began the project, she’s been protecting it a lot, so it’s not ready until she says it’s ready. It was very useful to screen it with a public in Morelia.”

Additionally, del Toro also spoke about his forthcoming black and white film project SILVER, which tells the story of a masked Mexican wrestler who learns that all politicians are vampires and sets to slaying them one fanged fraud at a time. Del Toro himself had already written half of the screenplay before making the move from Mexico to Toronto. On the subject of SILVER, del Toro has stated that he has a personal commitment to finish his writing of the project.

After switching gears, and steering the conversation in the direction of the upcoming second season to his animated Netflix series TROLLHUNTERS, del Toro played it cool by saying, “Yes there is news, but Netflix would kill me if I talked. It will come in the next four weeks.”  

Lastly, when asked about if he has any plans to direct in the near future, del Toro admitted that, “I’m taking a sabbatical for a year as a director. I was going to do ‘Fantastic Voyage,’ but after ‘The Shape of Water’ I need to take pause.”

Say it ain't so, Guillermo! C'mon, man! Is there any way I can convince you to direct a live-action version of THE ADDAMS FAMILY? Or, maybe you'd like to take over duties on the TV adaptation of Cullen Bunn and Tyler Crook's HARROW COUNTY? You don't have to answer right away, just think about it, okay?

Del Toro's next directorial effort, THE SHAPE OF WATER, will swim into theaters on December 8th.