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Guillermo del Toro [1964 - ] Date of Birth: 9 October 1964 BIOGRAPHY Guillermo del Toro was born in Guadalajara, Mexico, and was raised by his deeply Catholic grandmother. Like so many directors of his generation he fell in love with cinema at a very early age and with horror in particular. Again like so many of his peers he began dabbling with amateur productions and studied make up and effects with Dick Smith. Aged just 21, he was made executive producer on Doña Herlinda y su hijo [1985] but concentrated initially on work as a make up supervisor through his own company, Necropia. He honed his skills as a director working on Mexican TV shows and soon became in demand as a teacher in his hometown, frequently giving lectures on fuilm making and establishing the Guadalajara Film Studies Center and Guadalajara Mexican Film Festival. In 1993, Del Toro made his first feature film, the brilliant, haunting vampire film Cronos which catapulted him into the world arena and announced the arrival of a promising new talent. It bagged the critics' prize at the Cannes Film Festival and made Del Toro one of the hottest properties of the early 90s. Hollywood certainly took notice of this prodigious young talent from south of the border and Del Toro was lured to Tinseltown and given Mimic [1997], a rather obvious monster movie given some deft and inventive twists by Del Toro's imaginative direction. Mira Sorvino took the leading role on the advice of her then-boyfriend Quentin Tarantino who had greatly admired Cronos. But although Mimic turned out to be a far better film than anyone expected it to be, Del Toro was less than happy with the experience of making it, disliking the compromises forced upon him by the Hollywood system. He returned to Mexico, set up his own production company, the Tequila Gang, and enlisted the help of Pedro Almodóvar and Augustin Almodóvar as producers and made the quite wonderful El espinazo del diablo / The Devil's Backbone [2001], a creepy ghost story set and filmed in Spain. The filming of El espinazo del diablo was a much happier experience for Del Toro and, having proved himself capable of making smaller scale, more personal and far more intelligent films that Hollywood was trying to offer him, he once again set his eyes on a career in the States. This time he was given Blade II [2002], a big budget sequel that has its fans but which, in truth, showed very little that was identifiably from Del Toro. However, it did the trick and once again had Hollywood pursuing this maverick talent - he was soon being feted by the likes of Francis Ford Coppola and James Cameron, and there was the tantalising prospect of him taking the reins of an adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's short story At the Mountains of Madness. That has yet to materialise but, having scored a success with one comic book adaptation, turned his attentions to another. Mike Mignola's Hellboy was always one of the odder and more interesting comic books and Del Toro's lively adaptation was another winner, finally showing exactly what Del Toro could do with a big budget. The film was a success and a sequel was quickly - and inevitably - announced. But between the two films, Del Toro went back to Mexico again for the dark fairy tale, El laberinto del Fauno, another low key fantasy for his Tequila Gang company. Del Toro has, thus far at least, managed the difficult task of pleasing
almost everyone - his loud, brash and constantly inventive big budget
Hollywood fare pleases fans of glossy blockbusters while his smaller,
more personal work pleases those looking for something a shade darker
and more atmospheric. If he can keep up this unusual juggling act he
should be assured of keeping an army of fans and keeping his career
fresh and always surprising. * = television 1993 1997 2001 2002 Blade II
[director] The Blood Pact: Making of Blade II [very special thanks, performer (himself)] Masters
of Horror [performer (himself)] * 2004 Blade: Trinity
[special thanks] Crónicas [producer] Hellboy [script, director, performer (man dressed as dragon (uncredited))] Hellboy: The Seeds of Creation [performer (himself)] The Making of Hellboy [performer (himself)] 2005 2006 1984 1985 Doña Lupe [director] 1986 1987 Mentiras piadosas [special makeup effects artist] 1988 1989 1991 Cabeza de Vaca [special make up effects artist] Mi querido Tom Mix [special makeup effects artist] 1993 1995 1998 Torrente, el brazo tonto de la ley [thanks] 2000 2001 Y tu mamá también [thanks to] 2003 Secondhand Lions [special thanks] 2005 Cinema mil: 30 July 2005 [performer (himself in archive footage)] * Toro negro [special thanks] Torrente 3: El protector [performer]
Last Updated: 6 March, 2007
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