1997 was a memorable year for Guillermo del Toro for two reasons: His father was kidnapped in Guadalajara, Mexico, and, after a turbulent experience with Bob and Harvey Weinstein on his sophomore feature Mimic, the film was released.
But which was worse to deal with — the kidnapping or the Weinsteins?
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“The Weinsteins, hands down,” del Toro told Deadline’s Mike Fleming Jr. in an appearance at Contenders Film: Los Angeles on Saturday. “Because on the other thing, you knew what they wanted. The Weinsteins, who the f*ck knew what they wanted?”
Sharing that “there’s images” and “moments” in Mimic “that come from that ordeal,” del Toro noted that his Weinstein brothers debacle unfortunately “lasted more than 72 days” and was far more unpredictable of a scenario to grapple with than what he had while teaming with Avatar helmer James Cameron to get his father back, in an experience he said bonded the two filmmakers as “brothers.”
Del Toro was on hand at the DGA Theater to accept Deadline’s inaugural Contenders Hall of Fame Award, as well as to discuss his latest film, Frankenstein, which he said marked the culmination of “more than 30 years of career and 50 years of obsession.”
During the sit-down, the filmmaker also shared his feelings on artificial intelligence — the technology poised to disrupt entertainment in innumerable ways — which he said “can be summarized as ‘F*ck AI.’”
For all he knows, del Toro said, AI “may be useful for architecture, chemistry, medicine. … But as far as art, I don’t think any artist raised their hand and said, ‘Can we have AI?’ I don’t think so.” Comparing the technology to an uninvited party guest, he said AI “knows what has been done; it doesn’t know what to do next. It’s not a human.”
What’s most interesting to the creative to consider, when it comes to AI, is whether we’ll see the moment he considers the “threshold,” when people are willing to pay $12-$13 to watch a film or listen to a song made by artificial intelligence. “If that happens,” he reflected, “then we’ll get the movies we deserve, I’m afraid to say.”
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On the subject of his Frankenstein, starring Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein and Jacob Elordi as the Creature, del Toro said, “It really is an obsession that started at 7.”
Referencing the adage that “we’re born with one or two songs in ourselves,” he said that Frankenstein is one of those for him — “I am Johnny Cash singing ‘Hurt.’”
On the subject of his lifelong passion project, he added: “I aged into it. I failed into it; I succeeded into it. My knees hurt; my soul hurts. I have f*cked up enough that I feel the pain of the questions that [Mary Shelley] has. And I try to sing that song as if it’s new.”
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Premiering at the Venice Film Festival, del Toro’s Frankenstein debuted October 17 in limited release on before hitting Netflix on November 7.
Check back Monday for the panel video.
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