That perpetually plump and excited looking Spaniard Guillermo Del Toro recently sat on the New Yorker journalist Dale Zalewski, I mean sat with and opened up on the designs for a number of upcoming artistic projects including Del Toro's interpretation of At the Mountains of Madness and Frankenstein.
In addition Zalewski's was shown some production sketches at various stages of development.
On Designs for Frankenstein:
"In accordance with Mary Shelley’s description, the head appeared to have been stolen from a cadaver: there was exposed sinew around the jaw, and the cheekbones looked ready to poke through the scrim of flesh. Most appallingly, the Creature lacked a nose; a single bridge bone protruded over an oval breathing hole. Torres had been etching deep furrows into the Creature’s forehead, and shaved bits of clay were scattered on his desk, like clippings on a barbershop floor."
I love this:
"Del Toro was a playfully morbid child. One of his first toys, which he still owns, was a plush werewolf that he sewed together with the help of a great-aunt."
On viewing test footage from Del Toro's H.P. Lovecraft adaptation, At the Mountains of Madness. Specifically the Shoggoths creature design.
"The Shoggoths had a racecar sheen. They are pristine, They are functional. They are not asymmetric. Symmetry is efficiency. And these guys need to be efficient. Del Toro wasn’t sure yet if the Shoggoth palette should be pearlescent or circulatory reds and blues. Since the Shoggoths could mutate into anything, there was no fixed silhouette, but many would feature a “protoplasmic bowl,” an abdomen-like area from which new forms could sprout. One maquette was a disorienting twist on classic Lovecraftian form. It looked like a giant octopus head with tentacles jutting from the top and the bottom—a fearful symmetry. “That’s my belly in the middle,” del Toro joked."
Click here to read the full piece at The New Yorker.
