Everything you need to know about
Guillermo del Toro's latest, Pacific Rim:
The
auteur has not directed a film since comic book sequel Hellboy II in 2008.
His
version of The Hobbit failed to emerge due to scheduling conflicts and then his
long-awaited passion project At the Mountains of Madness was refused a green
light by a nervous studio.
He has
completed his trilogy of vampire horror novels The Strain with Chuck Hogan
which will now be turned into a series of TV movies.
Synopsis
When a
portal beneath the sea opens unleashing mega-monsters (known as Kaiju) from
other dimensions, the human race must fight back by building 250 foot tall
mecha-titans, known as Jaegers. Two human pilots control these giant robots as
they get strapped into circuitry suits, each controlling a hemisphere (left or
right) of the mechanical beasts.
Set in the not
too distant future, the Kaiju that have emerged from the portal have devastated
earth leading to masses of destruction and millions dead and the fight back has
dwindled human resources leading to a sense of desperation. Charlie Hunnam’s
former pilot is forced to team up with an untested trainee to ‘cancel the
apocalypse’ in the words of Idris Elba’s commanding officer.
Inception
Travis Beacham, writer of The Clash of
the Titans remake wrote a 25 page script treatment back in 2010 which was
immediately purchased by Legendary Pictures. Del Toro then came on board
developing the screenplay with Beacham for two years before principal
photography began on the 103 day Toronto
shoot in November 2011.
Inspired by the Fransisco Goya painting
The Colossus that also inspired video game Shadow of the Colossus, the initial
idea of Pacific Rim was to go back to the earliest tales of monsters that
mankind would tell around campfires.
Casting
Taking a risk, del Toro managed to
secure the cast he wanted without any of the huge star names that usually hold
up a tent pole movie of this size. Legendary Pictures backed his decision,
arguing it is the creation of the world and the concept that will be the main
attraction to audiences.
Idris Elba is the commanding officer
Sensi who will go head to head with the Kaiju. It was a role originally
developed for Tom Cruise who had reportedly shown an interest. Charlie Hunnam
from TV’s Sons of Anarchy takes the washed up Jaeger pilot role as hero
Raleigh.
Monsters
Steering away from the archetypal
monsters of mythology, anime and previous Kaiju movies, the completely original
designs have been at the forefront of del Toro’s mind since the
beginning.
3D?
Del Toro
resisted the pressure to shoot in 3D because he felt that the 3D effects would
miniaturize the robots and monsters and audiences would not get the full sense
of the scale and awe he intended.
Then came the shocking news that del
Toro had agreed to a dreaded 3D post-conversion. Del Toro supervised the
process, taking 40 weeks to do the conversion where it normally only takes a
few weeks to complete on previous movies.
The latest trailer
Could this trailer be any bigger?
The teaser
The poster
Excited yet?
