Movies
Guillermo del Toro Teases “Fascinatingly Difficult” Stop-Motion ‘The Buried Giant;’ Ron Perlman Cast
While being honored with the British Film Institute Fellowship last week, Guillermo del Toro spoke about his next film: a stop-motion adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s fantasy novel The Buried Giant.
Per Deadline, del Toro described the project as a “fascinatingly difficult stop-motion movie for adults” being produced “without any concession to a family audience.”
Published in 2015, the Nobel Prize-winning book follows an elderly British couple living in a fictional post-Arthurian England in which no one is able to retain long-term memories.
Del Toro decided the adaptation had to be told in stop-motion, like his 2022 take on Pinocchio, to protect the story’s authenticity.
“If you do a live action Pinocchio and all of a sudden a puppet walks through, it becomes uncanny valley, which is a horrible thing that doesn’t belong in the same world,” del Toro explained. “Just like if you do a live action movie about an old couple crossing a landscape full of trolls and fairies, and there are special effects and actors.”
He added: “I want all the creatures to be of the same material. It’s gonna take us years. And it’s incredibly difficult.”
Del Toro also revealed that frequent collaborator Ron Perlman will provide a voice in The Buried Giant. “He’s coming on the next movie,” the filmmaker said.
Perlman has appeared in seven of del Toro’s films: Cronos, Blade II, Hellboy, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Pacific Rim, Nightmare Alley, and Pinocchio.
Del Toro co-wrote The Buried Giant with Dennis Kelly (Matilda: The Musical, “Utopia”). Netflix is behind the production.
Before tackling the next project, del Toro is bringing Pan’s Labyrinth to Cannes today in celebration of the film’s 20th anniversary. The new 4K restoration hits theaters on October 9.
Ron Perlman in ‘Pacific Rim’
Sunrise Films has announced the official North American release of William Bagley‘s horror comedy Hold the Fort, and it’s accompanied by an energetic new trailer.
Hold the Fort debuts on digital platforms on June 23.
In the film, “Lucas and Jenny think their life is finally coming together when the couple become homeowners. Little do they know that their new house comes with a big catch. Lucas and Jenny soon find themselves in a fight for their lives when they become trapped in a battle between their Homeowners Association and an onslaught of monsters from hell. The horror-comedy takes the timely concern of home-ownership and wraps this up in an entertaining action-packed thrill ride.“
Watch the new trailer below, which introduces one wild HOA gathering during an equinox. Things get bloody fast.
Chris Mayers (Adult Swim Yule Log), Haley Leary (“The Walking Dead”), Levi Burdick, and Julian Smith star.
William Bagley writes and directs, in addition to producing with Smith, Matt Dodd, Luke Williams, and Tim Reis (Adult Swim Yule Log).
Ahead of the release, Bagley said, “My goal with this film was to make a hilarious, fast-paced thrill ride while also telling a great story with heart. Hopefully, through all the blood, laughs, fights, and gags, you leave the film feeling inspired to tackle whatever life throws at you.“
Hold the Fort premiered at Fantasia last summer before going on to play FrightFest London, Toronto After Dark, and Beyond Fest.
I wrote in my review, “It’s an infectiously charming assemblage of jokes and monster vignettes bound together by a barebones plot with not much on its mind beyond delivering an entertaining time.”
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