The 2013 Guillermo del Toro-directed film “Pacific Rim” is something of a cult classic for fans of the sci-fi genre, many of whom were disappointed when del Toro didn’t return to direct the 2o18 sequel “Pacific Rim: Uprising.” In a new interview with Collider’s Steven Weintraub, the director reveals the reason he didn’t return for part two came down to a failure to pay a deposit for soundstages in Toronto, Canada.
Del Toro tells Weintraub, “They had to give a deposit for the stages at 5 p.m. or we would lose the stages in Toronto for many months.” The director reminded the studio to make the payment, but “Five o’clock came and went and we lost the stages.”
The studio followed up by suggesting that the film be shot in China. Del Toro was partially receptive to the idea for on-location shooting, but he needed to be in Toronto while he worked on another project, “Shape of Water.”
Weintraub asks the director if the studio wanted the movie shot in China the entire time, something that del Toro says “didn’t matter” to him — he was more focused on the “phenomenal” part he wrote for Donnie Yen. “I wanted Donnie Yen. I wanted to have Donnie Yen star in a damn movie, a mainstream movie.”
The film’s team scouted locations in China, but plans ultimately didn’t work out and Steven S. Knight took over as the movie’s director. The decision changed many elements of the original script, and del Toro admits that he “didn’t see the final movie, because that’s like watching home movies from your ex-wife. You know? It’s terrible if they’re good and worse if they’re bad. You don’t want to know.”
Of differences in his script and Knight’s, del Toro says, “The main character for me in many ways was Mako, Mako Mori.”
Unfortunately, fans will always be left wondering about what could have been.
Watch the interview with Guillermo del Toro in the video above.
