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Guillermo del Toro Believes "Very, Very Strongly" in Don't Be Afraid of the Dark

Allie Merriam — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 08:00:00 PDT

Guillermo del Toro is the force behind this weekend's Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, and he recently spoke about his involvement with the Katie Holmes and Guy Pearce film during a NYC press day. Troy Nixey directed the scary movie, with del Toro operating behind the scenes as a producer and "presenter." Del Toro discussed what his duties included and how he stuck to his original vision for the picture. He also revealed his favorite movies, admiration for the young actress Bailee Madison, and how he thinks perpetuating the weak-females-in-horror-movies cliche is immoral.

On their film having an R rating despite little sex or profanity: "We shot the movie carefully - no profanity, no sex - and it’s not graphic at all. There’s not a single moment when you see anything gory, but when we asked the MPA, 'What would it need to change?' they said, 'The whole movie. It’s too intense . . . it’s intensity with a child.' And frankly, at that point, they said something really nice! They said, 'Why ruin a perfectly good R-rated movie?' Which I thought was very nice coming from them. So we wore it as a badge of honor."
On working with Bailee: "I think the term 'child actor' is a mistake. They're either actors, or they're not; whatever they are, at any age. If a kid is a real actor, he’s a thrill."
On attaching his name to a movie, despite not directing it: "I only presented three movies, one in Spain and The Orphanage internationally, and this is the third time. I only do it when - (a) I am introducing a filmmaker to the world, but (b) I endorse and say I believe in this movie very, very strongly. For whatever reason, it’s a more risky proposition in one way, but it’s one that I believe needs to continue to support first-time filmmakers. . . . I only do it when I fully believe I was involved in the product in a way that is meaningful."
On his favorite movies: "When DVDs came out I made a solemn promise to my wife that I’m just going to get my 10 favorite movies - which are really 7,000 movies. But instinctively, which may change tomorrow, I’d say Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, Erich von Stroheim’s Greed, Charlie Chaplin’s City Lights, Taxi Driver, Blade Runner, Beauty and the Beast. It’s almost impossible to make this list. I’d say all Chaplin and Hitchcock . . . it’s impossible. It’s a horrible dilemma."

To read what Guillermo said about the movie's 10-year development period, the importance of storytelling, and female protagonists in horror films, just

Link Time - See Daniel Radcliffe on Broadway

BuzzSugar — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 13:56:22 PST

Take a peek at Daniel Radcliffe on stage in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying - PopWatch
CBS orders two more seasons of Survivor - The Ausiello Files
Watch Mad Men stars Vincent Kartheiser and Rich Sommers revisit their characters to support trains - Vulture
Burn Notice star Jeffrey Donovan will play RFK in J. Edgar - MTV Movies Blog
Find out which legendary actor may play the villain in Bond 23 - Moviefone
Watch the unintentionally funny trailer for Things Fall Apart, starring 50 Cent - The Playlist
Guillermo del Toro will direct Pacific Rim - The Wrap
Watch Isaiah Mustafa's latest Old Spice commercial - Sugar

Link Time - Bill Hader Explains SNL's Stefon

BuzzSugar — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 13:30:09 PST

Bill Hader reveals the inspiration for Stefon - Gawker TV
10 children's movies that adults will love, too - Moviefone
Is Jersey Shore about to come to an end? - TV Squad
Here's what Beavis and Butthead will be watching when the series returns - Vulture
Tootsie and other well-known cross-dressers from the movies - Rotten Tomatoes
Martin Scorsese replaces Ridley Scott for The Wolf of Wall Street - MTV Movies Blog
Michael Emerson will star in J.J. Abrams's pilot Person of Interest - The Wrap
10 actors who have bared all on the big screen - TrèsSugar
Guillermo del Toro is taking on Pinocchio - Deadline

Link Time - Gerard Butler to Feel the Afterburn

BuzzSugar — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 13:30:41 PST

Gerard Butler is in talks to star in the comic book adaptation of Afterburn - PopWatch
Guillermo del Toro is going to work on the Incredible Hulk TV show - Moviefone
The next season of Weeds may be its last - TV Squad
Angelina Jolie's Bosnian love story is causing controversy - The Frisky
Watch Jason Statham and Ben Foster in The Mechanic trailer - Movieline
Listen to Adele's new single "Rolling in the Deep" - Vulture
Mayim Bialik is now a series regular on The Big Bang Theory - Deadline Hollywood
Steal décor ideas from Big Boi's "Shutterbug" music video - CasaSugar

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark Teaser: Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid

BuzzSugar — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 09:00:18 PDT

If you saw Pan's Labyrinth, you don't need me to tell you that Guillermo del Toro can tell a scary (albeit beautiful) story. Labyrinth, despite its creepy moments, is actually more of a fairy tale - so imagine what del Toro can do with a full-blown horror movie. The teaser for his latest, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, gives us a few hints: screaming children, chilling whispers, and Katie Holmes trying to protect her boyfriend's daughter from spooky creatures. Check it (and brace yourself for the ending) when you

Link Time - Guillermo del Toro to Produce Another Haunted Mansion Movie

BuzzSugar — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 13:30:55 PDT

Guillermo del Toro will make a new, scarier, movie about Disney's Haunted Mansion ride - Heat Vision
Nicole Richie will appear on another episode of Chuck - Ausiello Files
Mark your calendars! CBS sets its Fall premiere dates - TV Squad
Behold the many shades of Mad Men's Joan Harris - TV.com
Is Pixar collaborating on Jason Segel's muppet movie? - Cinematical
Carey Mulligan will NOT play Lisbeth in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - PopWatch
Evan Ross heads over to 90210 - Fancast
Which Clueless character are you? - TresSugar
Angelina Jolie's best movies - Rotten Tomatoes

Link Time - Seyfried, Stone, Woll Battle It Out For Role in Scientology Movie

BuzzSugar — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 12:30:00 PDT

Emma Stone, Amanda Seyfried, and Deborah Ann Woll are all being considered for Paul Thomas Anderson's upcoming Scientology drama - The Playlist
Josh Holloway may have a role in the upcoming Avengers movie - Cinematical
Check out the lineup for SF Outsidelands - SF Weekly
Guillermo del Toro drops out of The Hobbit - Zap2it
The Harry Potter kids are working on the franchise's final scenes - PopSugar UK
Proceed with caution: various spoilers from upcoming episodes of Glee - TV Squad
Check out a new trailer for Knight and Day - PopWatch
Librarians put a nerdy spin on Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" - The Frisky
There's a serious movement for Community's Donald Glover to play the new Spider-Man - Flavorwire

Guillermo Del Toro's Vampire Book Is Out! But Is It Any Good?

BuzzSugar — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:30:39 PDT

There's no question Guillermo Del Toro is one of the current masters of bringing nightmarish (and fascinating) creatures to life on the big screen. If you've seen any of his movies (Pan's Labyrinth, the Hellboy movies) you know that he is serious about scary stuff. So it didn't come as a surprise to me that he is not happy about the way vampires are currently being embraced as romantic symbols, and he's taken these matters into his own hands.

Today he has released the first installment of The Strain, a vampire trilogy. Collaborating with novelist Chuck Hogan, Del Toro's vampires live among us and are viewed as monsters who spread their "virus" and threaten all of humanity. The book's description makes the vibe out to be very apocalyptic.

I've been wondering if this book could be a decent reading alternative for vampire fans who prefer their undead without the sparkle. After the jump, I've rounded up some reviews of the book. To find out if the buzz is good,

read more. Here's what the critics have to say:

"Del Toro and Hogan pay tribute to Stoker's classic, while presenting a more primal depiction of the undead as figures of repugnance and terror. . . . The cinematic quality really comes though, making the book feel more like a action blockbuster than a thought-provoking horror novel." - io9
"The Strain . . . doesn't have the Old World moodiness of Elizabeth Kostova's 2005 bestseller, The Historian, but what it lacks in misty Carpathian landscapes and haunted libraries it makes up for in apocalyptic action and supersize portions of gore." - Salon
"Fans of sexy boy vampires such as Edward Cullen, the heartthrob in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series, won't want to date the vampires in The Strain." - USA Today
"This story will redefine how you look at vampires; del Toro mixes science and mythology like some mad chemist." - Collider.

What do you think? Sound pretty good? Are you going to give this eerie trilogy a shot?

Katie Holmes Joins Guillermo del Toro Project

BuzzSugar — Thu, 07 May 2009 12:30:41 PDT

This is kind of an odd combination: Katie Holmes will star in a thriller written by spooky creep-master Guillermo del Toro titled Don't Be Afraid of the Dark. The director is comic book artist Troy Nixey, whom Variety deems Del Toro's "protégé." Here's more:

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark is based on a 1973 ABC telepic about a young girl who moves in with her father and his girlfriend and discovers they are sharing the house with devilish creatures.

Aside from her brief stint on Eli Stone last year and her role in the goofy 2008 comedy Mad Money, Katie Holmes hasn't done anything on the big or little screen since her 2005 roles in Thank You for Smoking and Batman Begins. She's in an upcoming movie opposite John C. Reilly and Kevin Kline titled The Extra Man, but that was about it - until now. Seems like Holmes is being particular about the roles she chooses, and I think she chose wisely with a project penned by Guillermo del Toro. What do you think about this news? Are you glad to see Katie Holmes taking more roles?

Source

Del Toro Promotes His Vampire Books; Kinda Disses Twilight

BuzzSugar — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 06:30:28 PDT

Guillermo Del Toro is known for creating scary creatures and creepy movies - he's an expert on things that go bump in the night, if you will. So it's exciting to see him focus his energies on those undead creatures that are so very hot right now: vampires. On June 2 he'll release the first in a trilogy of vampire novels, co-written with Chuck Hogan, titled The Strain: Book One of The Strain Trilogy.

In a new video clip, the director/writer talks about his long-time love of vampires ("I used to love reading a good vampire story - but a very scary vampire story") and takes a not-so-subtle swipe at the Twilight books saying, "None of this romantic, languid, young man sucking the necks of beautiful people."

Del Toro says he loves and collects vampire fiction and views vampires as more of an evil "plague of creatures" rather than romantic heroes. From the sound of his book's description, Del Toro has created some absolutely terrifying vampires: "They have always been here. Vampires. In secret and in darkness. Waiting. Now their time has come. In one week, Manhattan will be gone. In one month, the country. In two months - the world." I can't wait to read this.

How do you prefer your vampires? "Languid" and sparkling? Or vicious and ruthless? You can check out the Del Toro clip if you