Credit: Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia CommonsCritically-acclaimed director Guillermo del Toro appeared at the Annecy Animation Festival to speak to students about the film industry. What those students got was some of the best expletive-laden advice they’ll ever receive.
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Guillermo del Toro is one of the most critically successful modern directors. Born in Guadalajara, Mexico, del Toro has made his mark with meticulously executed genre films, including Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), Pacific Rim (2013), Nightmare Alley (2021), and The Shape of Water (2017), which earned del Toro two Oscars.
Del Toro’s new medium of choice is animation. Not only has he been producing and writing for plenty of animated films, but he also directed his own with Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (2022), a stop-motion take on the animated tale that earned del Toro a third Academy Award.
In whatever medium he chooses, Guillermo del Toro comes across as a master of his craft, despite how foul his language gets. And when speaking with students at the Annecy Animation Festival, del Toro had one very vivid piece of advice for them: get ready to eat s—.
Guillermo del Toro: “Making Movies is Eating A Sandwich of S—“
Related: Guillermo del Toro Slams Current Animation, Claims Industry is Full of “Hoodlums”
During his master class at the Annecy Animation Festival, Guillermo del Toro went off about the current state of the animation industry. While he noted many modern classics coming out in 2023, including Across the Spider-Verse, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, he also pointed out how commercialism has ruined the industry.
“[If] I see a character raising his f—— eyebrow, or crossing his arms, having a sassy pose — oh, I hate that s—. [Why] does everything act as if they’re in a sitcom? I think it’s emotional pornography.”
But del Toro is used to that at this point. Despite all of his critical success and creating some of the most beautiful films in the past twenty years, the film industry still rejects him.
“They still say no to me. In the last two months, they said no to five of my projects. So it doesn’t go away. Making movies is eating a sandwich of s—. There’s always s—, just sometimes you get a little more bread with yours. The rate of productivity against your efforts will remain frustratingly difficult and frustratingly long. And you will always encounter a——-. But have faith in the stories you want to tell and wait until someone wants to buy them.”
Despite the number of curse words, del Toro has a point. No matter how good you get or respected you become, always be ready for the worst and keep working to be better. That’s the only way to continue to find constant encouragement and be prepared for the moment your time arrives.
Del Toro shared a similar sentiment when he discussed film studios using AI. Instead of saying to be afraid of robots, be fearful of the actual humans making the decisions. “When people say they’re scared of AI, I say don’t be afraid of any intelligence; be afraid of stupidity… I think when somebody calls stories’ content,’ when somebody says ‘pipeline,’ they’re using sewage language.” And that means a lot coming from someone who says “s—” so much.
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