Home Entertainment Guillermo Del Toro talks PACIFIC RIM; VFX, sequels and Idris Elba. Plus new images!

Guillermo Del Toro talks PACIFIC RIM; VFX, sequels and Idris Elba. Plus new images!

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Gullermo Del Toro has been awfully chatty lately. Earlier this morning we brought you the plot details for his version of the classic ghost story, Crimson Peak, but we all know that what you guys really want to know about is giant robots punching massive lizard creatures in their monster faces.

Well that’s exactly what you’re going to get with a light sprinkling of Idris Elba just for good measure!

In the latest issue of Total Film, which should already be on or hitting newsstands shortly, Del Toro spoke at length about Pacific Rim, his mech vs kaiju monster film. For those of you unable to get the issue (read: too cheap) have no fear, because those helpful fellas over at CBM and ComicBook.com were kind enough to transcribe the relevant bits as well as scan in some new images.

As skyscraper tall robots and monsters are scarcer in the real world than a second date with Darryn, the film obviously features a whole lot visual trickery. Del Toro revealed the state of the visual effects as well as how far along the process was in converting the film to 3D.

“We’re 30 to 40 percent into the 3D conversion and that’s going really good. We’ve done 99 percent of all the animation of Industrial Light & Magic, and we have rendered and finished about 33 percent of the shots. So the big animation haul is basically over. We have about a dozen shots left to animate.”

Del Toro revealed that once upon a time Tom Cruise – who appears to be a massive sci-fi binge lately, and no I’m not talking about his religion (maybe) – was actually circling the role of Lieutenant-Commander Stacker Pentecost, but that role ended up going to slightly smaller (I’m talking box office draw, definitely not in physical stature) Idris Elba. Del Toro spoke about what Elba brought to the role that was different.

“Idris could be just standing there saying ‘whatever’ and he has a magnetic center. I needed him to root the whole adventure, morally and ethically.”

Pacific Rim obviously appeals tremendously to folks like me who grew up on cartoons and movies about giant robots and monsters, hence why I will be wearing an adult diaper to the screening. How would Del Toro have reacted, if as a kid he got to watch a film like this?

“I tell you, I’d have exploded in a ball of blood, guts and shit! I would have exploded like that guy in Scanners! And basically I did that every day on the set.”

And apparently he’s not the only person that the film has turned into a red and (unfortunately) brown mist. A test screening of the film’s first cut was apparently received quite well.

“I did my director’s cut and showed it to the studio. It got a great reaction.”

This of course matches the positive reactions received by some lucky press and industry insiders, that we reported on recently. With all this positive explosions going around, it looks like the film is set to be one of the big smash hits of the year. And of course you know what means? Well, it generally means a crappy Happy Meal toy tie-in at McDonalds, but besides for that, it also means sequel. Luckily Del Toro is already way ahead of us.

“Travis [Beacham, co-writer] and I have been working on it. We co-wrote the screenplay on this first one, and now we’re hard at work at doing the second one.

“We want to take however long it takes to really find out the idea and try to bridge something that really makes the mythology roll…”

“The great thing about Legendary [Studios] is they’re willing to take it to completion in the right way. They’re giving us the leeway. Imagine that we’re generating the comic book. We’re learning more about the [Pacific Rim] world we’re creating day by day.”

And here’s a bit more on that world courtesy of some magazine scans of newly revealed concept art, behind the scenes images and movie stills.

Pacific Rim stars Charlie Hunnam, Rinko Kikuchi, Idris Elba, Charlie Day, and Ron Perlman and will be monster smashing it’s way into theaters on July 12th, 2013.  Until then, you can watch this kickass trailer over and over again. Please make sure you throw your used tissues in the waste basket before you leave.

When legions of monstrous creatures, known as Kaiju, started rising from the sea, a war began that would take millions of lives and consume humanity’s resources for years on end. To combat the giant Kaiju, a special type of weapon was devised: massive robots, called Jaegers, which are controlled simultaneously by two pilots whose minds are locked in a neural bridge. But even theJaegers are proving nearly defenseless in the face of the relentless Kaiju. On the verge of defeat, the forces defending mankind have no choice but to turn to two unlikely heroes—a washed up former pilot and an untested trainee —who are teamed to drive a legendary but seemingly obsolete Jaeger from the past. Together, they stand as mankind’s last hope against the mounting apocalypse.

Last Updated: February 19, 2013

2 Comments

  1. Were these scans made with a portable scanner?!

    Reply

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