Dreamworks Makes Mini-Man Cave For Guillermo Del Toro
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- Last Updated: Tuesday, 12 November 2013 06:16
- Written by Lupe Haas
At a recent special event held by Dreamworks Animation previewing the sequel to Jack Black’s Kung Fu Panda and Puss In Boots, a spin-off of Shrek’s loveable cat Puss voiced by Antonio Banderas, Katzenberg and the Mexican director/producer explained how their collaboration came about.
As the head of Dreamworks Animation, Jeffrey Katzenberg has overseen many hit animated films such as the Shrek franchise, How To Train Your Dragon, Madagascar, and most recently Megamind starring Will Farrell, Brad Pitt, and Tina Fey. According to Jeffrey Katzenberg, Guillermo Del Toro called him up out of the blue and said, “I really appreciate some of the things that are going on in animation today. I’d like to know more about it. Could I come visit your studio and see what you guys are up to?”
Jeffrey Katzenberg was not surprised that an A-caliber director like Del Toro was interested in learning about this medium. “In the last 2 or 3 years, there has been this remarkable interest in CG animation by some amazing and great talents from the live action movie business.” So they invited Del Toro to their Glendale studio where he spent the day talking to the filmmakers and seeing their work. Del Toro reciprocated by inviting Jeffrey Katzenberg and chief creative officer Bill Damaschke to visit what Del Toro calls his “man cave”.
After meeting and exchanging ideas, Dreamworks built Del Toro a mini man cave at their studio lot in Burbank and hired Del Toro on, first as a consultant on Kung Pu Panda 2 and then as an executive producer for Puss in Boots. He is also executive producing Rise of the Guardians, a directed by Peter Ramsey. He also lent his creative consulting to Megamind.
Del Toro took the offer very seriously. “I went in and started talking with animators,” stated Guillermo, “I talked with people I admired. I thought about my decision carefully. You don’t come to Jeffrey and slack off. I find Dreamworks to be remarkable, not only for what they’ve done, but for what they are going to do. Creatively, formally, technically, we are at a crossroads at Dreamworks and we are growing into what we want to be.”
Katzenberg revealed that many at Dreamworks accepted Del Toro as part of the team. “Everybody comes to his mini man cave to play with him and he has become this great inspiration.”
With a full slate of projects in development including a Frankenstein remake, Pinocchio, and the Charles Dickens’ unfinished novel The Mystery of Drood, how does the multi-hyphenate find the time to handle the multiple Dreamworks projects? He dedicates two full days a week without taking a lunch and spends two hours in the morning with Panda, then moves over to Puss in Boots, then to Guardians. The key is “compartmentalization,” he added.
Del Toro’s explained his role as a creative consultant at Dreamworks. “I try to help them untangle knots. I don’t have that same distance with my own movies, but I can help them untangle things when they get caught,” he said. “I don’t have that same objectivity with my own films. That’s why Alfonso (Alfonso Cuaron) and Alejandro (Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu) come to my movies. Bringing an interested party in from the outside is very valuable.”
Guillermo also explained his passion for animation. “Animation to me is a medium that for many years was treated like a genre,” said the former director of the Hobbit. “And it was treated like a genre for kids. It is really a medium that allows filmic expression unlike any other medium we know.”
Regarding his time at Dreamworks, Del Toro added, “I’ve been growing because of my contact with people like Jen (Jennifer Yuh) and Chris (Chris Miller). I really want to make my craft better. Dreamworks has been a fabulous opportunity. I have found a home. I have found people that will feed me. I can finally come to play in a sandbox that I’ve been dreaming of since I was a kid.”
Guillermo Del Toro’s behind the scenes work at Dreamworks will certainly be applied to his re-telling of Pinocchio but don’t expect the Pinocchio from the Shrek movies. In Del Toro fashion, the horror master will look to the dark material of the original work for the Henson Co. and Pathe production. “It’s a completely new Pinocchio that is completely old. Old in the sense that we are going back to the book.” he said. Collodi was pretty bold in the book and we will be doing a lot of bold things, too.” With Guillermo Del Toro you can count on it.
Next, Guillermo Del Toro starts principal photography in September on the live action Pacific Rim set for release in 2013.
Kung Fu Panda 2 opens in theaters this summer on May 26 and Puss In Boots is scheduled for November 4, 2011.
Melanie Wilson
Visit her blog at LAMelbox.blogspot.com
