Guillermo del Toro on How ‘The Shape of Water’ Was Almost Shot in Black and White

Steve Pond

TheWrap Oscar Magazine: “This is not a single-genre movie,” the writer-director says. “It’s a musical, a melodrama, a spy thriller, a comedy, you know?”

Guillermo del Toro photographed by Irvin Rivera for TheWrap
Photograph by Irvin Rivera for TheWrap
Steve Pond

This story about Guillermo del Toro and “The Shape of Water” first appeared in the Oscar Noms Preview issue of TheWrap’s Oscar magazine.

Guillermo del Toro has often worked in the rich cinematic margins, making genre films like “The Devil’s Backbone,” “Hellboy,” “Pacific Rim” and “Crimson Peak” that please sci-fi and horror fans but don’t register with awards voters. But 2006’s “Pan’s Labyrinth” was a notable exception, landing six Oscar nominations and winning three of them.

Now comes “The Shape of Water,” a luminous fairy tale that has already led all films in nominations for both the Golden Globes and the Critics’ Choice Awards.

Steve Pond

Steve Pond

Steve Pond is TheWrap’s Executive Editor, Awards and has been writing and overseeing awards coverage on the site since 2009. He spent decades writing about film, television, music and the entertainment industry for the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Rolling Stone, Premiere, New York Times, Playboy and many other publications. He is the author of…

Comments