It’s been a long time since Guillermo Del Toro has had a movie out, the second Hellboy flick back in 2008 to be exact, and now he’s finally returning this July with Pacific Rim, which is one of the most anticipated genre films this summer.
In addition to the many projects he has in the works, Del Toro’s also been tinkering with Dark Universe (aka Heaven Sent), which is being called by some the dark side of The Avengers. This team would include Johnny Constantine, and Swamp Thing, among other dark comic heroes.
As Del Toro told Collider, “Constantine is our lead. Constantine is the guy who leads us in and out of the plot. We have stuff that those who love the darker side of the DC Universe are going to appreciate, and we’re trying to be true to the origins of the characters.”
And indeed, a darker version of a superhero story like The Avengers is a great idea, especially with Del Toro at the helm.
Del Toro added he’s finishing the “bible” for the story, which is about forty-five pages, then it will get delivered to Warner Brothers for a screenwriter to tackle.
The writer is currently top secret, “and when the right time comes, hopefully that writer will take over, and then we’ll see if it’s directed by more or someone else and I’ll just produce,” Del Toro concluded.
As far as Pacific Rim, Entertainment Weekly tells us there’s new robots being featured on the advance posters, including a robot named Gipsy Danger, another named Striker Eureka, and yet another named Coyote Tango. The robots look ginormously bad ass, and as Del Toro told the audience as Wonder Con, he wanted the audience to understand the scale and scope of these “25-story tall mother*ckers who beat the sh*t out of each other.”
Del Toro also told Collider the look of the robots, where they’re rusted and oxidized by nature, was inspired by World War II, where the ships and airplanes looked rusted and battered, and Star Wars also had a similar used spaceship look as well. The director also said he didn’t use motion capture to make the robots come to life because it wouldn’t look realistic. The robots are just too big and heavy to move fluidly like humans do.
Don’t forget that before Pacific Rim hits theaters, there will be a prequel graphic novel written by the film’s screenwriter, Travis Beacham, with an incredible cover created by comics legend Alex Ross. So finally we have Del Toro headed back to theaters with Pacific Rim, and we’ll find out this July 12 if it’s been worth the wait.
As a fan of giant robot / monster movies from Japan, Rim is definitely something that’s up my alley, and I certainly look forward to seeing it myself.
