When Oscar-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro drives around Toronto, the city he adores and considers his second home, he doesn鈥檛 just see the traffic snarls the rest of us fixate on.
He sees the world, and locations that could make 海角社区官网pass for other cities around the globe.
Finding ways to put 海角社区官网into his movies has been a nearly three-decade obsession for the Mexican-born writer/director, from his 1997 sci-fi horror 鈥淢imic,鈥 set in New York but filmed here, to his monster revival 鈥淔rankenstein,鈥 set in Eastern Europe, which he鈥檚 currently in town filming. He never stops thinking of ways to put 海角社区官网onto the big screen.
鈥淚鈥檓 always scouting,鈥 del Toro, 59, said in an interview.
鈥淚f I’m in a car, I’m looking out the window the entire time. I see an alley or I see a corner and I take a note. I drive by and think, ‘This looks like Amsterdam’ or 鈥楾his looks like Sweden’ or 鈥楾his looks like Tokyo.鈥”
That鈥檚 how he discovered the pier at the mouth of the Don River that would play a major role in 鈥淭he Shape of Water,鈥 his amphibian/human sci-fi romance, set in Baltimore in 1962. It won four Academy Awards in 2018: best picture, director, production design and original score.
鈥淏ack then I lived in the Beaches and I was driving on Lakeshore and I thought, 鈥楾hat’s perfect for the ending. I wonder what that is?鈥欌
It was a pier on the Keating Channel, with the Gardiner Expressway looming in the background. It鈥檚 where Sally Hawkins鈥 Elisa has a momentous encounter with her humanoid amphibian lover and also the villain (Michael Shannon) who is trying to keep them apart. Del Toro said the pier wasn鈥檛 on the city鈥檚 official list of filming locations.
His drive-by scouting routine also served him well when he was shooting his 2013 sci-fi monster rumble 鈥淧acific Rim鈥 here, and wanted 海角社区官网to double for Tokyo. He found a spot while going for dim sum downtown.
鈥淭he Tokyo (scene) in 鈥楶acific Rim鈥 was quite literally me going to Lai Wah Heen (a Chestnut St. restaurant that has since closed). I was parking to go have some dumplings and I was walking from the parking lot to the restaurant and I saw that street and I thought, 鈥楾his looks like Tokyo.鈥 鈥
Other filmmakers might not feel as determined to make their movies in Toronto. But del Toro, whose main residence is in Los Angeles (鈥淚 like sunshine and I like the warmth鈥) calls our city 鈥渕y second home.鈥
He praises Toronto鈥檚 abundance of talented film industry workers and devoted cinephiles and its wide range of other cultural pursuits.
鈥満＝巧缜偻鴌s an incredibly vital city. The arts, the food, the culture, the idiosyncrasy of its shops and shop owners. I love it. I absolutely love it 鈥 I feel like I am a Torontonian filmmaker.鈥
He takes any chance he can get to work here. Del Toro鈥檚 current visit finds him fulfilling his 50-year dream of filming his own version of Mary Shelley鈥檚 classic 鈥淔rankenstein鈥 story about a misunderstood monster. It stars Jacob Elordi, Oscar Isaac Mia Goth and Christoph Waltz.
Later this year, the dedicated Torontophile plans to teach more master classes at TIFF Lightbox on filmmaking techniques, this time on the theme of staging.
On weekends, del Toro visits favourite 海角社区官网haunts 鈥 he has many 鈥 often accompanied by his wife Kim Morgan, a film writer and screenwriter. Del Toro posted on X (formerly Twitter) about a recent tour of local bookstores, where the burly, bearded and bespectacled filmmaker is often on a first-name basis with the owners. He talked to the Star about some of his favourite shops, restaurants and movie theatres.
Del Toro, who specializes in films of horror, sci-fi and fantasy, first came to 海角社区官网at the age 28 in 1993. He presented his debut feature 鈥淐ronos,鈥 a Spanish-language supernatural horror made in his native Mexico, at the 海角社区官网International Film Festival. He鈥檇 wanted to visit 海角社区官网for years, having long admired the films of local auteurs David Cronenberg and Atom Egoyan and the scholarly reviews of film critic Robin Wood.
In 1996, del Toro returned to 海角社区官网to shoot 鈥淢imic,鈥 his insect-themed horror film that made extensive use of the TTC鈥檚 subway system and also the R.C. Harris Water Treatment Plant on the city鈥檚 eastern lakefront. He would later use the water plant for scenes in 鈥淭he Shape of Water鈥 and 鈥淣ightmare Alley,鈥 the latter a 2021 psychological thriller starring Bradley Cooper and Cate Blanchett, set in 1930s America.
One of the advantages of filming so often in 海角社区官网is that del Toro has gotten to know the city鈥檚 many skilled film technicians 鈥 鈥満＝巧缜偻鴌s world class for set construction鈥 鈥 and to maintain the relationships.
He鈥檚 currently residing in the St. Lawrence Market area, but his favourite part of town is the city鈥檚 east end.
鈥淚 am partial to Leslieville; I like it a lot. I had my studio there for about a decade. I love all of the Danforth.鈥
He鈥檚 often recognized when he鈥檚 out and about, but unlike many other celebrities, he doesn鈥檛 mind the attention.
鈥淚 like to chat with people. I was in Hollywood Canteen (on Danforth) yesterday, and a group of people stopped and said, 鈥極h, we thought we would never find you here.鈥 But I like to chat. I’m very shy in a strange way. I like to be alone a lot, so when I interact with people, I enjoy it.鈥
When del Toro recently tweeted out the book shops he was visiting in town, 鈥渁 lot of people started recommending bookstores in 海角社区官网that I didn’t know of. So I intend to remedy that in the next few weekends.鈥
It鈥檚 not a complete love affair between del Toro and Toronto. Like many of the city鈥檚 residents, he鈥檚 fed up with all the road-clogging construction and attendant traffic jams.
鈥淭raffic is getting exponentially worse every year in Toronto. That’s the part that is very, very difficult. In 1996, when we made 鈥楳imic,鈥 you used to calculate 20 minutes from one end of 海角社区官网to another, if it wasn’t rush hour. Now you have to calculate 45 minutes to an hour.”聽
He also dislikes the King Street Transit Priority Corridor, which favours streetcars over automobiles. He can鈥檛 understand why city officials created it.
鈥淚t’s a traffic measure I don’t believe exists in any other civilized place in the world,鈥 del Toro said.
This explains the answer the horror-loving filmmaker gave when I asked him to name the scariest building in Toronto.
鈥淐ity Hall! 鈥 Did I mention that I hate the traffic?鈥
All the world’s a stage
Guillermo del Toro believes so much in the value of staging that he teaches about it at the TIFF Lightbox.
When he鈥檚 making a film in Toronto, Guillermo del Toro likes to show his affection for the city by giving master classes at TIFF Lightbox on film technique. His previous talks, always well attended, have included discussions of the movies of Alfred Hitchcock and gothic romance.
鈥淓very time I make a movie I try at the beginning, middle or end to do a couple of master classes at TIFF,鈥 del Toro said. 鈥淚 did it for 鈥楴ightmare Alley,鈥 I did it for 鈥楥rimson Peak鈥 and I did it for 鈥楶acific Rim.鈥 And I鈥檒l do it at the end of this shoot.鈥
He鈥檚 talking about 鈥淔rankenstein,鈥 the Mary Shelley horror story adaptation he鈥檚 currently shooting in town. At a date still to be determined, he plans to return to 海角社区官网later this year to give master classes on staging, an essential part of filmmaking he feels is often overlooked.
鈥淚 would love to do a master class on staging for film, which is one of the things I think is important for people to understand,鈥 del Toro said.
鈥淔rom the directorial professional point of view, that鈥檚 one of the things I value in other directors, when somebody’s good at staging.
鈥淚t’s the nerve centre of storytelling, the staging with the camera and the actors. And once you are aware of it as an audience member, you start appreciating the brushstrokes and the compositions that lie in the art of 鈥榩ainting’ a movie 鈥β
鈥淚t鈥檚 about where the camera is, where the actors are, what is the vantage point and what is the disadvantage? The most famous staging vantage point is that shot in 鈥楻osemary’s Baby鈥 where Ruth Gordon is half visible, half hidden by a doorway. Every time you see the movie, the entire audience in the theatre leans in towards that door.
鈥淪taging is a marriage of elements in front of the camera; it鈥檚 scenes or actors and cameras moving or not moving to get the point across.鈥
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