Guillermo del Toro Discusses His Gothic Horror Film CRIMSON PEAK
I'm really excited to see Guillermo del Toro's first American rated 'R' horror film Crimson Peak. From what I've heard it's going to be great! io9 recently released an interview they conducted with the director in which he discusses the haunted house, Downton Abbey "class porn," and gothic kink.
Talking about the haunted house set they filmed in he said:
"The house decays. We needed to have the house feel a little bit like an orgasm. There's a line I already cut in the editing room where it says it lays down like an animal and it goes slowly mad. The house in the screenplay and in the movie has certain features that make it seem like a living organism. So, it's decaying. It's sitting in the middle of a field, rotting.
"We knew that the top needed to be sort of the most weathered part of the house. The bottom and the areas where you received visitors are live and slightly more kept. But the top is the head. The people in the movie are insane. So the head is all rotted away."
How freakin' cool is that? I love the though and care that this guy puts into his movies. Del Toro went on to say that he will be using mostly practical effects in the film. He even had an old-school working elevator running along its "metaphorical spine."
"I refuse to do green screen on the elevator. I wanted the actors to really go from the top to the bottom … Literally, we weighed the cameraman, the steadicam, the heaviest lens, the focus puller, the actress and the dog, and that's the permit. Because, you know, to ride with four or five people, you really need to be able to – we didn't want to risk it, so one of the rules is nobody rides the elevator for fun, which made this a f*cking Victorian Stair Master for me [laughs]."
That sounds like it would be such a fun set to work on. The director is asked at one point if the "rotting house had anything to do with the way that people of that period, that whole aristocracy fell apart?" He explained that this movie would not have Downton Abbey "class porn."
"Yes. This is not Downton Abbey. This is … I don't like what I call "class porn," where everybody's all gooey over, 'If only the aristocracy was still in charge, life would be so civilized.' Fuck that. It's not true. It was never true. And this is the opposite. This is a movie about a very American trait on Edith [the character], and a very incredibly decadent trait of the aristocracy, [is now] rotting away in a mansion on a hill. It's Miss Havisham. It's anti-class porn in a way."
I love Del Toro's attitude. Because of the kinkiness and violence of the film he thinks the movie will get an 'R' rating, which is what he's going for. He says:
"It's the first adult movie I do in English. You know, because even with the R rating, I can hardly call Blade an adult film. It's the first time I've tried to marry the Pan's Labyrinth and Devil's Backbone sensibilities with a larger cast and larger budget."
When asked if this was the most sexual movie for him he replied:
"Well, it's fun. It's kind of like a little sheepish, but, you know?... I go, 'Excuse me? Would you please?' [Laughs] I'm not like a fish in the water, you know? I'm more like, 'Yeah man! Get it on!' I don't know how to not sound like a dirty old man.
"But it's fun. I mean, because I think this is the only movie where that aspect is explored in any form is Devil's Backbone when the hump happens between the caretaker and the lady, the head mistress. I really think this is a little different. It's not by any means a Nymphomaniac with ghosts. There's very tame content for anyone's standards, but for me, it's a big deal."
Make sure to go to io9 to read the rest of their set visit experience. Reading all this stuff got me even more excited for this movie, and I can't wait to see some footage. The feature stars Mia Wasikowska, Jessica Chastain, Tom Hiddleston, and Charlie Hunnam.