No Film School did an interview with Guillermo Del Toro (his most recent work was the stylish horror film Crimson Peak). I love his advice for new filmmakers:
Guillermo Del Toro directing Mia Wasikowska on the set of Crimson Peak. Image via Google.
- Find Your Mentors: For 10 years, Del Toro worked with “The Godfather of Makeup,” Dick Smith (Taxi Driver, The Exorcist, The Godfather, and Amadeus). This period spent with Dick Smith gave him “discipline to break down an effect into cinematic elements, and a lot of work ethic.” For screenwriting, Del Toro studied for 3 years with Mexican director Jaime Humberto Hermosillo. He also credits his longtime animation partner Rigo Mora as one of his mentors. They founded the Mexican SFX house Necropia together.
- Form Is Content: Del Toro is a visual filmmaker. "I devote a huge part of every day to just thinking," said the filmmaker. "I think about story, images, color, and which elements to push. Visually, Pacific Rim is just as intricate as Crimson Peak or Pan’s Labyrinth, but each film is a different exercise. Just like a sculptor might sculpt with different materials, I love to work in different mediums." He shared with No Film School that his favorite movies tend to "sink in because of strong visuals and stay with me long after the screening." Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula (1992) is one of his all-time favorites. "I didn’t understand it the first time I saw it, but the visuals made me want to see it again," he said. Being a visual filmmaker myself, I appreciate his view points so much. "To me, visual is narrative," shared Del Toro. "Film is analyzed incorrectly most of the time, as content and style—but those are not separate entities. Colors, light, design, texture...all of those are narrative elements."
- Know Your Strengths and Weaknesses: Del Toro has always known that he is good with makeup FX and storyboarding, and he's used those skills to help other filmmakers with their projects. "Almost no one is good at everything,” said Del Toro, “but we are not just the good parts of what we do; we are also the bad parts. Your style emerges out of the things you don’t do well." For example, Stanley Kubrick's first film Fear and Desire is "incredibly stiff and creaky," but that became his trademark.
- Follow Your Passion: Do what you love is Del Toro's belief. “You need to choose projects that need you to exist: if you don’t make them, nobody will," said the filmmaker. "To me, the beauty of film is when someone connects with the movie on a molecular level; when art resonates personally and shapes who you are.”
- Give 110%: No matter what work he does and has done, Del Toro always gives it 110% of himself. "I worked on projects I didn’t love," he said, "but I still loved every minute of the job."
- Be Promiscuous: In the same line as #5 above, for every project he works on, Del Toro embraces it wholeheartedly. “Be promiscuous with your material! You kiss it, you hug it, you roll around in bed with it," said the director. "There’s gonna be hair samples, you’re gonna leave some DNA in there if you make a movie wholeheartedly. Don’t be distant! Get down and dirty.”
- Trust Your Instincts: Follow your bliss, don't let the pressure from above and around you get in your way. "Studio heads always use the word 'no,' but they try not to hear it. And artists don’t always have the courage to say it," said Del Toro. "So hold on to your idiosyncrasies!"
- Make Mistakes: Just like real life, with filmmaking you learn from your mistakes. “You need accidents for a narrative to feel complete," said del Toro. "There is beauty in mistakes.”
- Be Brutal: For Del Toro, the brutal part means to kill your darlings without mercy. “Once a movie is out, it’s out—but before then, it’s crucial to judge your project severely," said the filmmaker. "Many of the best directors don’t make it to the final line because that evolutionary element—going from raw and unbridled to rigorous—is missing.”
- Be Patient: It's never too late or too early to learn the craft of filmmaking. "So enjoy it; explore your freedom," said Del Toro. "Find out who you are. It takes time to become a professional.”
- Be Generous: Del Toro is a big supporter of new filmmakers. “I’ve already produced nine first-time directors,” he proudly shared. The director is especially fond of the animated film The Book of Life by first-time director Jorge Guitierrez. “Jorge came to me, and he was Mexican, funny, and fat, so I said, 'That’s a great guy,'" said the director. "His story was beautiful, too, and I thought, 'If I don’t produce this guy’s movie for him, it will die.' So I did it.”
“You need to choose projects that need you to exist: if you don’t make them, nobody will.”
For the entire interview, visit No Film School.