Most directors would have jumped at the chance to make the next instalment of Harry Potter or Narnia. But Guillermo del Toro is not most directors. And besides, this natural heir to Tim Burton, Terry Gilliam & Co had his own fairytale plans – namely Pan’s Labyrinth, the triple Oscar-winning box-office smash that turned him into a Hollywood sensation. Alan Jones meets the Mexican maestro on the set of his latest offering, Hellboy II: The Golden Army.

“I’m into eye protein, not eye candy,” announces Guillermo del Toro as he watches actor Ron Perlman bound into view dressed as red-skinned demon Hellboy. Del Toro, a 43-year-old cuddly bear of a man who inspires Messianic devotion in all around him, is standing in the middle of what looks very like a Manhattan street. In fact we are on the massive Korda Studio back-lot in Budapest for Hellboy II: The Golden Army. It’s been four years since the first Hellboy outing and in that time everything has changed for del Toro. The sequel was dead in the water as far as the moneymen were concerned. Until, that is, Pan’s Labyrinth made del Toro box-office dynamite.

Before Pan’s Labyrinth del Toro had been crafting elaborate fantasy films for 13 years. His 1993 debut Cronos – a south-of-the-border take on the vampire story – won critical acclaim but never found a mass audience. Mimic, a Miramax-backed monster movie, was a text-book sophomore muddle. But del Toro returned to form with his next outing, The Devil’s Backbone, a ghost story set in the dying days of Spain’s civil war. Two comic-book adaptations followed: Hellboy, based on the paranormal investigator created by cult graphic novelist Mike Mignola; and vampire-slaying actioner Blade II. Both were lost in a blitz of superhero cinema releases. Del Toro is philosophical about the hit-and-miss nature of his early CV. “It works like this,” he explains. “I do one film for Hollywood, then one for me. Mimic and Blade II were great dates, but the others are commitments for life.”

Del Toro doesn’t include Pan’s Labyrinth in this relationship analogy, instead describing it as a “beautiful daughter”. Its combination of heart-wrenching wartime dramatics with exquisite monsters won over the multiplex-going public. But the film was not originally conceived with a crossover in mind: “I wanted my hardcore audience to see genre possibilities beyond the easy scare,” he says, “to embrace its multi-faceted richness.”

With Oscar glory, though, came a worldwide audience far beyond gore geekdom. Del Toro can now choose between A-List projects like the big-screen remake of The Hobbit (which will be two films budgeted at $150 million each) and Universal’s Frankenstein re-brand. He can now return confidently to the Hellboy franchise, armoured with total creative control, commercial muscle and a $72 million budget.

Unlike other filmmakers who have made the jump to vast budgets, del Toro has changed neither his priorities nor his personality. He has remained fiercely loyal to a troupe of actors that includes ex-Bros singer Luke Goss, on whom del Toro gambled for Blade II, and who now plays Hellboy II’s villain, elf-prince Nuada. And he has retained a highly contagious passion for every aspect of filmmaking. He refuses to start using a 2nd unit camera team, preferring to oversee every shot with trusty cinematographer Guillermo Navarro, who has shot all of his movies.

On Pan’s Labyrinth, del Toro did much more than just hang fire to make sure the film was right. He put his money where his mouth is. “I ploughed my entire fee back into the film to complete it the way I wanted,” he explains. “So far it’s made over $150 million and I won’t see a penny. My wife is more upset about that than I am, because it got me to the top of my game. It had the audacity not to fit into any category, yet be successful. I used that clout to benefit Hellboy II and my list of people to help if I ever got into that position.”

Top of that “People-To-Help List” were Ecuadorian director Sebastián Cordero (Crónicas) and Spain’s Juan Antonio Bayona (The Orphanage). Del Toro produced both films. “It’s all about new talent,” he insists. “That’s what keeps our industry alive and fresh. On The Orphanage I made everyone a first-timer from the director downwards, and it worked.”

Brutality is something del Toro knows all about. He was born in 1964 during a particularly volatile period in Mexico’s history. On the streets around his parents’ home in Guadalajara, paramilitary troops regularly executed students, and drug barons dished out revenge. “Blood, guts and violence were a way of life,” he confesses. “I saw my first corpse at four, I worked next door to a morgue as a teenager, I’ve had guns put to my head and seen people killed in front of me. That’s why I turned down directing Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and The Chronicles of Narnia – I don’t understand youth because I’ve never had one.”

Violence has persisted into del Toro’s adult life. In 1997 his father was kidnapped and held prisoner for 72 days. “I lost 18 months of my life trying to find out who was responsible,” he tearfully recollects. “Then a cop said, ‘Give me $10,000 and when we catch them I’ll leave you alone with them and a steel pipe for an hour’. I couldn’t do it. I’m not a perfect human being by any means but that wasn’t the way to confront my pain.

“I work in a genre most people don’t take seriously yet, and I try to imbue it with meaning. I don’t care if films like Hellboy II are considered pulp fiction by most. I will always leave breadcrumb trails to follow into the darkest forests if people want to learn more about themselves.”

Words: Alan Jones

A full version of this article first appeared in Wonderland #13, April/May 2008

Hellboy II: The Golden Army is released on August 22

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What was a key lesson you learned from being a child actor?

That whatever you do, you do it all the way. So with acting, you decide how you’re going to be play the character, you work out how they behave and you commit 100% to that. If you don’t, it’ll fall flat, it’ll come across as self-conscious and the audience won’t feel it.

Why did you give up acting and go to college?

I’d forgotten why I loved it. I’d been doing one show for so long and I’d been working since I was six so I kind of lost track. I just wanted to not do it anymore; to not know what my future was.

Do you owe your current film career to taking that break?

I’ve been doing this for twenty years now so it’s been a gradual progression. The new film stuff all happened after a film I did called Manic, which I made in 2001. I played a mentally ill kid. If there was one hurdle then it might have been Manic. Rian Johnson saw it and cast me in Brick. Gregg Araki also saw it and cast me in Mysterious Skin, which was the first time that anyone had asked me to be sexy.

What was it like taking Brick and Mysterious Skin to Sundance in the same year?

It’s a cliché to say it, but that was a dream come true. To go to Sundance had been a promise I’d made to myself since I was a kid working on TV. So ten years later when I was able to go there with two movies that I was really proud of, it meant the world to me.

Which character has been most like you?

It depends from day to day. I do know that Tommy Burgess, the soldier I play in Stop Loss, couldn’t be more different from me.

How?

I was brought up to believe that fighting isn’t the answer and it’s better to use words. Everything in my upbringing went against me ever becoming a soldier. I wasn’t even allowed to play with toys to do with the military.

So although you’re playing Cobra Commander in the G.I. Joe movie for Paramount, you were never allowed to play with G.I. Joe dolls as a kid?

That’s right. No toys that had guns. But I got to know a lot of soldiers through Stop Loss and I learnt what it means to be one. No matter what you feel about America’s occupation of Iraq, it’s important to distinguish that, in a way, what those soldiers do is the bravest thing a human being can do: they put their lives on the line for each other. I’ve never risked my life for anything.

Do you have any vices?

Well, I drank a lot when we were shooting Stop Loss. A lot of beer, a lot of hard liquor. If we weren’t on set we’d go work out like a bunch of meatheads. Then we’d eat a lot of meat. And then we’d go drink at the nearest place we could find tequila, Coors, whatever. And just get really drunk. By the time I was done, my tolerance for alcohol was nuts! I could shoot liquor all night long and be alright, which now, not even close. I’ve never been much of a drinker, it’s not really my drug of choice.

What is your drug of choice?

I guess marijuana. I’ve had a select set of really beautiful, powerful, psychedelic experiences on certain drugs but I never got into just doing it at a party: ‘Oh let’s get fucked up and drop acid’. That’s so retarded and disrespectful to your body and the drug itself. Mushrooms, acid and ecstasy can offer you a new perspective. They can also offer you nothing.

Do you lose yourself in your characters?

The simple answer is no. Some actors stay in character on set. I think that’s impressive but I’ve never done it. But when I went home at night on Stop Loss I was still very much in the mood of that character. It’s a strange thing to say about yourself, but I change a lot with different roles. I’m a volatile person.

Are you a character actor or a leading man?

[Laughs] A ‘character actor’, what does that mean? I don’t appreciate the dichotomy, because a good actor is going to play a character. Johnny Depp is a very good looking, leading man dude but he plays characters because he’s a good actor. Daniel Day Lewis, same story.

Who would you like to work with?

Tim Burton, especially after doing Stop Loss and The Lookout. I’d love to do a Tim Burton movie where reality doesn’t have much to do with it.

Do you think you’re attractive?

[Laughs] That’s not a fair question. How can you answer that without sounding like a tool?

Have you ever been star-struck?

When I saw David Bowie in concert I froze the fuck up. I was there with my then-girlfriend and hardly looked at her for two hours – and she was good to look at. Usually when I see a band I watch what the drummer is doing, what the bass player is doing but I only had eyes for David.

What were your favourite films growing up?

Well, Dumbo still hits me harder than just about any other. Dumbo or Bambi couldn’t happen nowadays. In this business where accountants and lawyers are now in charge of how stories get told, the movies are sucking.

Words: Matt Mueller
Interview: Lee Wallick
Photography: Chad Pitman

A full version of this article first appeared in Wonderland #13, April/May 2008

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BILL MILNER, aged 12

Who do you play?

William Proudfoot, 11. He’s a member of the Plymouth Brethren so he isn’t allowed to listen to music or watch TV. When I accidentally watch a pirate video of First Blood, I can’t wait to become an action hero myself.

How did you get the part?

From a casting call at school.

Did you get to see Rambo: First Blood?

Garth told me I didn’t have to, but I thought I should try to understand why Will would be so amazed, intrigued and driven by it. When I did see it I thought it was just okay.

Favourite line in Son of Rambow?

“This has been my best day of all time…”

What movie would you remake in your back garden?

A fast-paced action film like Star Wars.

Favourite prop from the film?

A great big ghetto-blaster.

Was it better to be a teenager in the 80s or now?

In the 80s the music was good and the clothes were fun but technology has made listening to music, taking photos and making films easier and more portable now.

How did 80s kids survive without mobile phones?

They carried lots of 10ps and enjoyed the freedom of not having to be checked on by parents.

Best bit of filming?

Shooting the scene by a lake where Will and Lee bond for the first time.

Worst bit?

We were at a power station for a scene where I fall into an oil pit. The oil was toothpaste thickener dyed black. It was freezing, a very windy day and I just kept getting colder and more upset.

What do your friends think of it all?

It’s like I have a curious hobby that takes me away for a few weeks and when I come back everything is normal again.

What’s next?

I’ve done a film with Michael Caine called Is There Anybody There? but if other offers don’t happen maybe acting wasn’t for me anyway.

WILL POULTER, aged 15

Who do you play?

I’m school bad lad and amateur filmmaker Lee Carter, 13, who blackmails Will Proudfoot into being his stuntman. Underneath his tough exterior is a really nice person (the bit my mum hopes rubbed off on me!).

How did you get the part?

Garth says its because he thought I was Cockney until he heard my real posh-boy accent. I went from not believing I had the part to ecstatic in ten seconds.

Did you watch Rambo: First Blood?

Yes, but I’m more a Bourne Ultimatum fan myself.

Favourite line in Rambo?

“Don’t push it, don’t push it or I’ll give you a war you won’t believe”.

Favourite line in Son of Rambow?

When Bill comes out of the supermarket with his jumper stuffed with stolen food and says “I’ve got everything!”

What movie would you remake in your back garden?

Bourne Ultimatum of course.

Was it better to be a teenager now or then?

I don’t know completely, but I would say being a teenager in the 80s was better. I think they had more fun.

How did 80s kids survive without mobile phones?

They just had really massive mobile phones.

Best bit of filming?

All the weird products on the supermarket shelves that I’d never seen before.

Worst bit?

The confusion of Bill playing Will and Will being my real name. They’d ask for Will on set and I’d be halfway there. Nightmare.

Favourite prop?

Lawrence’s old video camera and the bike with the trailer.

What do your friends think of it all?

After seeing me do a really bad German accent in the trailer, most of them think I speak in a Chinese accent for the film!

What’s next?

I learnt what every department does on a film set because I’d like to pursue an acting career. Son of Rambow clinched it: I still have to pinch myself to believe I was a part of it.

Words: Louise Brealey and Alan Jones

A full version of this article first appeared in Wonderland

#13, April/May 2008

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