Guillermo del Toro on His Abiding Love for His Most Underappreciated Film

BetweenPacific Rim(his most commercially successful movie worldwide ) andThe Shape of Water(his Oscar - win smash ) , Guillermo del Toro releasedCrimson Peak — a flick filled with themes andvisually dazzling imagerydear to his Gothic - know essence that did n’t quite feel its foothold with audiences or critic . Looking back in a raw interview , he has an theme why the 2015 film was initially so misunderstood .

speak toVulture , del Toro explained the marketing had something to do with it : audiences think they were getting a full - on horror flick — not a excruciate period romance with supernatural overtones . “ What I was trying to do withCrimson Peakwas what I ’ve tried to do in many of my movies : make an action movie that operates as an anti - action movie or , in the cause ofCrimson Peak , a Gothic romance that defuse the romance , ” he said . by and by in the interview , he goes deeper on that : “ I do it I wanted to farm a munificent , beautiful , operatic spectacle , with sets and melodrama and beautiful light and , you know , just make it make it a variety of feast . ”

Unfortunately , as the director recalled , Crimson Peak‘s unique sensibilities proved difficult to market . “ The matter that will always , pun intended , frequent that film is that it was sell as a horror movie , ” he say to Vulture , call back that at the time he know it was a “ doomed ” scheme . “ I was say , ‘ You should upgrade the Latinian language , and you should promote the mystery story . The last thing you want to do is advance it as revulsion . ’ We were opening in October , and October is the month of Halloween , so I sympathize why it bump . ”

Crimson Peak

© Legendary

However , he ’s well pleased thatCrimson Peakhas found its consultation in the years since . “ It ’s a moving picture that connects with the people who love it at an almost molecular grade , ” he said . And del Toro is , unsurprisingly , among their number ; he call it “ one of the movies I love the most and that is very nigh to my heart . ”

Guillermo del Toro ’s next release will be his much - anticipated take onFrankensteinfor Netflix .

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