The director recognized that there are sketches of the style of “There will be no happy ending”, a novel by Paco Ignacio Taibo in which he took elements for the central character of this story, due to his style of black or police literature.
After the success in the awards circuit, ‘The Shape of Water’ was the big winner in 2018 and the dilemma was there “Do I continue with what has given me security, peace of mind or do I risk everything on a film that is going to require tools completely different. I relearned my directorial skills with this job,” Del Toro said.
“The next movie I’m going to do will be Pinocchio, then a monster movie, not that I’ve separated myself from doing my thing, but this was a great moment for me,” he said.
The only way to not get completely old is to try something new every time
There is an incidental character in the movie “Spider Woman” and the man from Guadalajara recognizes that it is not part of the book, but it is part of his childhood memories. “I saw her in the Agua Azul park in Guadalajara and the fair was there. “The spider woman” was under a red spotlight and said ‘oh, look at my tragedy, I was left like this for disobeying my parents’ and that’s what it says in the film now”, recalls the director happily.
“The ability to contemplate humanity in the strange is totally Mexican,” reflects the director with the aspects that impact a narrative. He remembers that as a child he still had the opportunity to see tent shows in his childhood, so this approach to this project gave him the opportunity to draw on his personal memories.
Although the film is in color, the plot is inspired by the color red that disappears as it progresses.
“I thought this film to be in black and white, I hope that this version reaches Mexico through the Cineteca, surely they will enjoy it a lot with an air closer to film noir”, said the creative.
Recording in the midst of the restrictions represented an important challenge, in addition to the inclement weather in Canada, where the caravan of tents that are part of the film was set up, in the end the task was achieved and with a great cast like Bradley Cooper, Rooney Mara, Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette and Willem Dafoe put together this story that will not leave anyone without a reaction.
‘The Alley of Lost Souls’ opens in Mexico on January 27, 2022.