Guillermo del Toro explored some of his most personal philosophies during a conversation at the Marrakech International Film Festival, shifting from the themes of birth in his new Frankenstein film to the subject of death.
“Why should you want to live longer?” he asked the audience of attendees, journalists and film students. “I’m a big fan of death … I think death is really good. I’m certainly looking forward to it, because it’s the day you go, ‘Well, tomorrow I won’t have any problems.’”
The nearly two-hour discussion, moderated by Kim Morgan—screenwriter of Nightmare Alley and del Toro’s wife—covered the Romantic poets’ influence on his work and his five-decade journey toward adapting Mary Shelley’s classic novel.
Del Toro reflected on discovering Frankenstein at age 7 through Boris Karloff’s portrayal of the monster.
“That was religion. That was my church,” he said. “I immediately felt that what my grandmother used to feel about Jesus, I now felt about Boris. And I saw myself in him.”
At age 11, he found a paperback copy of the novel and read it in one sitting, cementing his lifelong ambition to create his own version. With this year’s Netflix adaptation starring Oscar Isaac and Jacob Elordi, that dream has been realized — leaving him with what he called “postpartum depression.”
Discussing the film’s emotional scope, del Toro said, “I’m Mexican, so emotion is big for me. I think emotion is very scarce right now. We have come to a point in civilization when emotion seems to be something you hide … We are in a horrible moment in which cynicism simulates intelligence. If you say, ‘I believe in love,’ you’re a fool. If you say, ‘I don’t believe in love,’ you’re a wise man. I don’t agree with any of that.”
In keeping with the spirit of the Romantic poets, he hoped his Frankenstein would feel operatic.
“The Romantics took a huge step toward the possibility of ridicule,” he said.
More than an hour later, he returned to the idea:
“You have to be completely open to failure if you’re ever to experience success … you have to be ready to be ridiculous. So I’m ready to be ridiculous at all times.”
Source: Variety