Boyish charm

'Hellboy II' director del Toro professes his love for fallible heroes, the Coen brothers' films and clocks

By Chris Garcia
AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Thursday, July 10, 2008

Fanboys, along with their voluminous beards and their uninhibited geekiness, filled an Alamo South auditorium Tuesday for a special screening of Guillermo del Toro's monster-stuffed action comedy "Hellboy II: The Golden Army." Many happy fangirls also came, proving the universal draw of del Toro's myth-infused brand of genre enchantments.

Presented by the Alamo, Harry Knowles and the rest of the Fantastic Fest brigade, the event felt like a miniature comic book convention, with personal appearances by former Austinite del Toro, "Hellboy" comics creator Mike Mignola and frequent del Toro actor Doug Jones, who plays Abe Sapien in the new film. The trio signed posters and T-shirts for more than 30 minutes before the movie, then answered audience questions for about an hour afterward.

The Mexico-born del Toro, basking in the afterglow of acclaim for his Oscar-winning fantasy "Pan's Labyrinth," has earned the mantle of high priest of the mystical, magical and monstrous in a string of atmospheric spook tales, including "Cronos," "Mimic," "Blade II," "The Devil's Backbone" and the first "Hellboy." He's currently mapping his vision for a two-part version of "The Hobbit."

Del Toro's appearance marked his first time in Austin since 2004. He's lived in the Los Angeles area with his wife and two young daughters for about six years.

Fanboys (and girls) are a loyal but persnickety bunch, so del Toro introduced the film by cautioning the crowd that "Hellboy II" veers significantly from the comic books.

"We wanted to make a movie that would allow us to go freer and crazier with the universes that Hellboy visits, and at the same time juxtapose those moments of grand action with very intimate, small moments," del Toro said. "The movie has a lot more humor than the first one. And at the same time it goes to places that are more melancholy or scary and much more weird. We've created a (ton) of monsters, which is one of the main purposes of film in my opinion."

The audience roared with approval.

Well after the movie ended, del Toro broke away from thinning legions of fans and autograph seekers to talk with me about his work.

Austin American-Statesman: What's with your obsession with cogs and sprockets and the inner workings of clocks? They've been a thematic element in your work since your first film, 'Cronos,' which itself means 'time,' through 'Pan's Labyrinth' and now the Golden Army in 'Hellboy II.'

Guillermo del Toro: They mean different thematic things. In "Hellboy II," I was interested in creating an army that was completely impersonal, totally mechanical. I love clocks. I've been addicted to clockwork since I was a kid. In "Pan's Labyrinth," the fact that the Captain is obsessively fixing his father's watch means he believes that everything has its place, everything fits perfectly and is organized. And then you see that his room is actually filled with gears, so he lives inside his father's watch. It's pure fetishism, because I really love them and I love the idea that the universe is a clockwork machine and that we all fit. In "Cronos" they symbolized man's idea of a finite lifespan.

You've said of 'Hellboy II' that you made it as weird as you could, 'totally unbridled.' And the result really is overstuffed.

It's very contrarian, even politically. Look, Prince Nuada, the "bad guy," which I put in quotes, is the only guy with political principles. His fight makes sense. I agree with the prince completely. I don't agree with his methods, but I agree with his idea of mankind completely (messing) everything up with parking lots and malls.

There's a clear ecological message put forth by the prince, especially in the scene with the gigantic tree that bursts through the city streets.

We could have gone on and on with that message, but the way the screenplay is written is to be completely streamlined and simple to follow, because that was my mistake in the first "Hellboy." Following the plot was very difficult, even if you watched it twice. But the new one really has moments I adore, like the fact that every single hero in the movie has the chance to (mess) up, and they do. I love superheroes when they're fallible. I like the idea of them identifying not only with the Nietzschean super powers but with super fallibility, too.

You read and research extensively, and in that sense you're an unusually literate screenwriter. Your films are so densely layered with history, myth, literature, folklore, religion and the like.

Screenplays are only the literary part of a film. The screenplay structures the dramaturgy. But the visuals should do a lot of the heavy lifting of storytelling. For example, the new movie is peppered with ideas of fatherhood and pregnancy and fertility that are subliminal but are played out: There's the giant fertility goddess statue, there's the pregnant belly in the wall when the fairies explode, there's the baby Hellboy carries when he saves it and his weapon is called "Big Baby." If you watch it again, look at one thing: The movie's color palette is so (expletive) strict. When we're in the real world, all the lines are vertical and very hard and everything is green, blue, gray and a little bit of yellow. There are no other colors. And then you go into the Troll Market and it explodes with color and everything is circles and sensuous and there's life.

You really thought this thing out.

Oh, yeah, yeah. It took me two and a half years to write this one. But when they're not deep, they're not deep. Like "Blade II," but I didn't write that one. I tried to add touches, but I'm more interested in the story of the vampires than the story of Blade. With movies like this, people either get them or they don't get them at all. With the Coen brothers I suffered the same thing. I used to love "Blood Simple," but after that I wasn't getting their movies. Then, when they came up with "Fargo," something cracked and I understood everything, all of their movies. I'm a convert. Movies are exactly like a religion. I can tell you about Jesus and Buddha, but until you are on the road to Damascus, you're not going to understand. You have to have your own road to Damascus. It's personal.

How did you feel about the celebratory response to 'Pan's Labyrinth,' especially since it was such a personal project that you put all your money into? Did you just want to cry?

It's incredible, incredible. It's very hard for me to accept a compliment, because I grew up a chubby guy so I was very, very shy. At Cannes it's true we got a 21 minute standing ovation. I didn't want to let it in, but (friend and filmmaker) Alfonso Cuarón was there and he said "Let it in. You're not letting it in." And after five minutes, I cracked and I did cry.

It must have opened professional doors for you.

Oh, yes, I think it has. Fact is, I got away with a lot of things on "Hellboy II" that I wouldn't have been able to before. The aesthetics are very non-Hollywood. They share more aesthetics with "Devil's Backbone" and "Pan's Labyrinth" and "Cronos." More European.

More European and really quite pagan.

Pagan is good. All my life I've said the same thing: I'm in love with monsters. And for the first time in my life I'm able to make a celebration of them. My inventory of monsters is usually very low — four or five monsters per movie. And this one has 30-something monsters. It's fantastic.

How far along are you on 'The Hobbit' and what's your vision for it?

The first movie will be a stand-alone piece, I think, with a different, painterly stylethan (Peter Jackson's) Ring Trilogy. The second one will start transforming into an act of absolute mimicry, and the last section of that movie will blend in the landscape, the color and completely try to do the best match. An adaptation has to preserve the best things in the book. There are a lot of idiosyncrasies in the book that are really beautiful and some of them are really cutting edge. Some people call it a children's tale by Tolkien, but I actually believe it's the one that's more free and more interesting formally. It's my favorite of all the books.

cgarcia@statesman.com; 445-3649