The 2023 Annecy Festival organized a one-hour meeting with Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro. Story of a masterclass without waffle!
Annecy is like his second home. And since success has never gone to his head, it is with the same state of mind as when he started out that Guillermo del Toro goes to the International Animation Festival, the 2023 edition of which highlights the cinema of his native country, Mexico!
Adored both for his films and for his good words, the filmmaker was offered the opportunity to speak for an hour, in front of an audience of journalists, fans but also professionals. It was therefore enough to start the del Toro show, which began with a declaration of love for animation, and more particularly for stop-motion.
“I hate doing animation, but I love doing animationhe said at the start of the meeting. But stop-motion is, in my opinion, the most beautiful form of animation. With a digital animation, you don’t touch your subject. (…) Stop-motion is the closest thing to playing with your toys.”
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The Annecy Freak Show
At 58, the filmmaker is considered to be at the peak of his art, as evidenced by the Oscar for Best Animated Film which was awarded to him this year for his film Pinocchio. However, those who describe themselves as “too big to have feet off the ground” does not intend to take the big head:
I built my life on not giving a damn, and I will continue to do so. (…) I’m weird, in fact we’re all weird and our families don’t understand us. So every year we come to Annecy to get together with weird people.
If he did not attack the platforms directly, most certainly because of his numerous collaborations with Netflix, Guillermo del Toro was offended that the productions of these SVOD services were called “content”. “Content is only produced to prevent people from talking to each other” he choked.
Turning regularly to the public, the director has polled the audience several times on questions such as: Who has already practiced stop-motion animation? (some hands raised) Who’s ever had their life saved by a movie? (all hands up) In addition to being an internationally acclaimed filmmaker, del Toro proves he’s also a great showman!
“Stop-motion is my religion!”
Let the fans be reassured, the latter does not intend to imitate Quentin Tarantino to retire. But his career could nevertheless take a new turn, and now focus on animation projects exclusively, after maybe “one or two additional live-action films.”
Like many, Guillermo del Toro is surprised at the gap in quality between the excellent short films produced by animation schools around the world and those of feature films. For him, the culprit is beyond doubt: it is the fault of the system.
This is why his hopes rest on the animators of tomorrow, for some present in the room, to whom will fall the heavy task of succeeding those whose
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Asked what advice he would like to give to the new generation of artists, Guillermo del Toro has only one directive: don’t give up! Failure is part of the creative process, and even a filmmaker of his caliber continues to face rejection. “In the past two months, five of my projects have been said no.”
“Making a movie is like eating shit. Even when you’re successful, you just get more bread than shit” he summarizes with the raw language that characterizes him. Before explaining having spent sixteen or seventeen years of his career not working.
“In summary, for half of my career I did nothing” he concludes before his voice is drowned out by the applause and then the standing ovation of the public present in the small hall of the Bonlieu center in Annecy.
The stop-motion animated film Pinocchio by Guillermo del Toro can be found on Netflix now!