Fans of visionary director Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth) have probably heard about his upcoming project, Pacific Rim, in which human-piloted robots battle monstrous creatures. The premise basically combines two of my favorite things: Godzilla movies and Japanese mecha anime. So it’s great to hear that del Toro had a blast making this movie, calling it “the best creative experience [he's] ever had in Hollywood.” As I’m in awe of his creative vision in his previous exploits, that quote has a lot to live up to. Del Toro had more to say on Pacific Rim, which stars Idris Elba, Charlie Hunnam, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day and Ron Perlman, which opens July 12th, 2013. Hit the jump to check out his comments.
In a recent interview with Total Film, del Toro talked about Pacific Rim, particularly commenting on the scale of the picture and the casting of Hunnam. As for the scope of this picture:
When we’re talking about the physicality of the fight, we ended up building several blocks of Hong Kong. And literally demolished them. We built a building and then we took down the buildings.
We built command centres of the robots that were the size of the house. We started them on hydraulic rigs that shoot and elevated them and moved them round so you could really get a sense of the physical nature driving a robot like this.
As for Hunnam:
The funny thing is Charlie was one of my only two choices for the prince of Hellboy II: The Golden Army. I met with him. He screen tested. I loved Charlie before Sons Of Anarchy. He always brought a certain honesty. He’s the kind of guy that women will love who guys won’t hate.
He’s the right side of honest and good looking that you don’t want to punch him in the face. You want to have a pint with the guy. You want to take him to the pub. There’s male bonding energy with this guy that I thought was perfect for the character.