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14 SUMMER EDITION 2016
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Guillermo Del Toro talks about his favourite gothic fiction and films, and why his
latest fantasy opus Crimson Peak is not your usual haunted house movie.
What inspired you to make Crimson Peak?
Guillermo DelToro: One of my
favorite gothic novels is written by Sheridan
Le Fanu, and it’s called Uncle Silas, and it’s
so great because there is a very innocent
character trapped in a very wicked place. For
Crimson Peak, I fell in love with the idea of a
mountain that becomes red in the winter –
the snow becomes red as blood. It’s a very
powerful image, and that’s where the movie
came from. What I wanted was to do a very
classic gothic romance, but with a couple of
things that were very, very modern. So there
are a few violent sequences – graphic, brutal
– and a sexual element that is quite raw; no
nudity or explicit content but strong taboo
breaking.
Although there is a strong supernatural
element, is it fair to say to it's closer in
spirit to movies like Rebecca rather than
The Haunting?
The Haunting has a very different
architecture, and I tried to not reference
other movies in the same genre. Rebecca
is very much a gothic movie. But Rebecca
is actually very, very close to Jane Eyre, and
then Jane Eyre is very close to Dragonwyck
or Uncle Silas! Gothic novels have recurring
elements: the distressed dark, brooding
hero, the innocent heroine coming to a
crumbling mansion, the hostility of the
mansion or its inhabitants. I think the idea
is to create something that comes from my
own sensibility. That’s what Kubrick did in The
Shining. He took the haunted house genre,
and he made a hotel that looked modern and
somewhat clean and full of really modern
shapes on the rug and the walls, and he made
it become really, really menacing.
How else do you think Crimson Peak differs
from other gothic classics of the past?
Tonally, it is different than most gothic
stories; there is quite a drive to the mystery
and a use of ghosts and apparitions that is
quite unique. Visually, I am trying to create a
sense of scope and grandeur and – in some
instances – fashioning an elegant Technicolor
look. What I mean is, when you see the
images, they have very strong color and it’s
sort of the way the Italian filmmakers used
to do colour gothic. I adore Mario Bava’s
sense of color and his sense of atmosphere.
He worked on camera and he used a lot of
primary colors. So we are trying to do our
take on ‘Technicolor gothic.’
Do you believe in ghosts?
Well, I’ve had two experiences, so I do
believe they exist. I had one in New Zealand
and one in Mexico. In New Zealand, I rented a
haunted room in a hotel. In the middle of the
night, I heard horrible screams - like someone
being murdered - and the hotel was empty for
the season. And I heard the ghost of my
uncle sighing in my ear after he died. I think
that the fact that I believe in ghosts makes
me treat them with a personal perspective as
a filmmaker.
The house in Crimson Peak deserves more
than a passing mention.The set you built
is magnificent, and the house itself is a
character.
There is great beauty in shooting in a real
place, on a real set, and it informs the way the
actors behave and the way you set the mood
with the camera. I think it’s good to build sets
like this, for that. The set was four stories high,
with running water, bathrooms, bedrooms,
working chimneys, etc. and encompassed
most of the house and a piece of exterior.
Are you going to take anything home from
the set?
Some key props and books,
yes. It’s my favorite set, I wish
I could live in the library. I
honestly wish the Crimson
Peak house could be my
house!