Behind the Scenes of Pan's Labyrinth

About the movie

Although the war scenes occupy only a small space in the film, the emotional impact is quite large.

At the beginning of the film, it seems that it is trying to create a believable texture of real life for the audience, but Guillermo del Toro uses genius directing techniques to naturally turn reality into a fantasy world, and then begins again. With the interchange between magic and reality, the film as a whole is full of fluidity. Although part of the story in the film is stereotyped, it is made very poetically. Through narration, the audience learns that the princess in the mythical world finally left her kingdom and came to the human world. In the human world, she died, leaving only her sorrow to her biological father, who called for the return of her soul.

The vivid hallucination effect elements and pure Spanish dialogue in the film have made it one of the most talked about in various interviews at the film festival, and has been highly praised by critics and buyers. It was well-received and the studio expects the film to be its best box office hit in Spain.

About the Director

Guillermo del Toro was born on October 9, 1964 in Guadalajana, Jalisco, Mexico. Influenced by his Catholic grandmother, Gilmour became interested in filmmaking as a teenager. Gilmour is an all-rounder in film, having served as director, actor, director's assistant, screenwriter, producer, etc.

At the age of 21, Gilmour directed his first film, Dona Herlinda and Her Son (1986). While working as a makeup artist for 10 years, Gilmour ran his own company. In addition to producing some small-budget films, he also produced a large number of film programs for Mexican television. At the same time, he also began to teach film courses. Currently living in Los Angeles, USA.

The 1992 film Cronos won nine Mexican Film Festival awards, winning numerous awards for Guillermo del Toro and making him a famous Mexican director. The Devil's Backbone, a 2001 ghost story film about the Spanish Civil War, was well received by critics and audiences. Like this film, the main purpose of "Pan's Labyrinth" is to oppose the Spanish Civil War and World War II through the representation of the magical world, and focus on the living conditions of children in suffering and pressure. Guillermo del Toro's films have many similarities. For example, he likes to shoot some scenes in the subway, is willing to shoot monsters, insects, etc., and often uses amber as the tone of the entire film.

Representative works include: Hellboy (2004), Blade II (2002), Espinazo del diablo, El (2001), Mimic ( 1997), Cronos (1993), etc. The films currently being promoted include: "3993" (2007), "Hellboy 2: The Golden Army" (2008).

About the actors

Ivana Bakrno plays the 12-year-old heroine Ophelia in the film - an angel who has experienced countless pains. Ivana Bakirno is always able to successfully complete the transition from reality to different states of the magical world. She hates real life and longs for the magical world. Although her appearance is the same as in the real world, her expression and the calmness she showed when accepting the mission given to her by Pan God have become something else. one person.

Doug Jones first collaborated with director Guillermo del Toro on "Hellboy," establishing a long-term relationship. In "Pan's Labyrinth", he played two characters, Pan and the Gray Skeleton. Pan is a half-man, half-goat god of forests and livestock. The Gray Skeleton is a specially designed strange creature. Eyeball in fixed position, wearing a helmet used in war. All of Doug Jones's scenes in the film take place in a surreal magical time and space. His appearance is a bit weird, and he wears a sheepskin most of the time.

About the shoot

Del Toro has always been interested in the Spanish Civil War and the Franco-era dictatorship. In 2001, he wrote and directed "The Asylum", which told a strange story that took place in an orphanage at the end of the Spanish Civil War. For this "Pan's Labyrinth", del Toro originally planned to create a new creation based on "The Devil's Nest", but at the time he was busy directing "Blade Runner 2", so the idea was shelved. The unique visual effects of "Blade Runner 2" allowed him to successfully obtain the qualification certificate to adapt the masterpiece "Hellboy" by the famous comic master Mike Mignola. In 2003, when he was transitioning into a mainstream commercial film director, "Pan's Labyrinth" came to life in his mind. He decided to change his original intention and write "Pan's Labyrinth" as a fairy tale.

Del Toro began to count the fairy tales that influenced him in his early days, from those passed down orally to the fairy tales full of blood, violence, beauty and charm recorded in the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries. These fantasy stories All trigger fear and anxiety in adults and children. “I have been interested in fairy tales and their techniques since I was very young,” Del Toro said. “I loved reading the original version of Grimm’s Fairy Tales, and some of Andersen’s and Wilde’s fairy tales are not without horror and cruelty. I am trying to incorporate various fairy tale elements into the film."

Del Toro and Alfonso Cuaron discussed the idea of ??creating this film together, as they have known Del Toro for more than 20 years. Cuaron liked his idea very much, and several other producers in the production company also actively agreed, hoping that Todd Toro could shoot this film without any restrictions on his creation. .

The preparatory work for the film was completed at lightning speed. It was all in place in just three months in 2005. The set and character design started very early and were completed after the script. A lot of content was added later. It is worth mentioning that del Toro’s visual style in this film was deeply influenced by painting and illustration. He said: “I like Arthur Rackham, Edmund Dulac, The work of illustrators such as Dulac and Kay Nielsen, especially the style of Leckheim, plays an important role in "Pan's Labyrinth""

Director of photography Guillermo. Guillermo Navarro and production designer Eugenio Caballero worked quickly with the director to complete the set design in a day or two. This was a complex process that included puppets. , traditional makeup and CGI, etc.

Pan's appearance is unforgettable. The costume is made of sponge material and the horns are made of fiberglass. Doug Jones spent up to 5 hours putting on makeup every day. During the performance, Jones was only responsible for the movements of the lower half of Pan's head, while the movements of the eyes and eyebrows were completed by a puppeteer outside the camera.

The film started shooting in June 2005. The entire film took 11 weeks to shoot, and the filming locations included Madrid and its suburbs. Because that summer was the driest year in Spain in the past 10 years, the filming of the film was also affected a lot. Del Toro recalled: "As far as the eye could see, everything was drought and brown. We had to shoot near shady areas, and even there the plants would only survive for a few weeks. During the filming, many green spaces were gradually being destroyed. "Died by drought"

Spanish Friends and Family

Guillermo del Toro and Alfonso Cuaron are both pioneers in Mexican independent films entering the Hollywood market. Guanxi is both a partner and a best friend who has known each other for 20 years. After enjoying the sweetness of the mainstream market, Del Toro still chose to return to the ranks of independent filmmakers to use his wild imagination. As his number one confidant, Cuaron also fully supported the creativity of "Pan's Labyrinth" and joined the production of "Pan's Labyrinth" justifiably. The ranks of filmmakers ensure that del Toro's creation is not restricted.

Del Toro has also recalled many long-term partners in the past, such as photographer Guillermo Navarro (who also shot "Night at the Museum", which has been doing well at the box office in recent weeks), and set designers. Eugenio Caballero and composer Javier Navarrete are in charge of the core of the film's atmosphere, and the stunning and almost lifelike CG effects were directed by Grzegorz Jonkajtys, who was responsible for the animation special effects of "Sin City".

Because the dialogue is all in Spanish, most of the main roles are chosen from Mexican and Spanish actors. The young actress Ivana Baquerno, who played the strong Ophelia, had only played small and inconspicuous roles in some Spanish films in the past. Del Toro, who had no impression of her, was conquered by his performance in the interview. , it has also been proven that the 11-year-old girl is very good at supporting the role of repeatedly deviating from dangerous illusions and cruel reality; Spanish actor Sergi Lopez, who played Captain Vader, once appeared in Stephen Frears In "The Nightmare", this well-recognized good guy has to play the cold-blooded, arrogant fascist evil leader in the film. He has been favoring this role before del Toro wrote the script. Years of preparation were rewarded with his unforgettable and wonderful "transformation" performance.

But whether it is challenging the limitations of age or personality, the actors' hard work is not as profound as that of Doug Jones, who plays the god Pan. As the eternal spokesperson of the monster in Del Toro's mind, Doug Jones had to wear big horns made of fiberglass, put on a full set of rubber costumes, and had to endure up to five hours of makeup every day. During the performance, Doug Jones almost became "blind" and was only responsible for the movements below the nose. Pan's iconic glass eyes in the film were bionic controlled by a built-in microcomputer controller. device.

After 11 months of lightning-fast overtime work, "Pan's Labyrinth" was successfully completed; it received 22 minutes of applause at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, one of the top ten best films of the year by Time Magazine, and After its release, the Rotten Tomatoes website gave an astonishing 99% praise, once again witnessing the birth of a new magical classic and the strength and ambition of Mexican filmmakers that cannot be underestimated. ·The film was shortlisted for the official competition section of the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.

·It took Doug Jones five hours to put on the very complicated Pan costume. He could only see through the small hole near his nose to judge his current position. .

·In 1997, Guillermo del Toro’s father was kidnapped in Mexico and was released 72 days later after receiving a ransom.

·At the Cannes Film Festival, the film won 22 minutes of applause from the audience.

·This film was nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. It is quite rare for fantasy films to receive this nomination.

·Del Toro is known for compiling notes and sketches about the film before filming. He once threw the notes on "Pan's Labyrinth" that he had compiled over the years in the back seat of a taxi, thinking that all his work had been wasted. But unexpectedly, the taxi driver realized that this note would be very important, and after many twists and turns, he found Del Toro. Del Toro regarded this as a blessing of luck and became more determined to complete the film.

·Doug Jones was the only American on the set, and he was the only one who didn't speak Spanish.

·Pan’s legs in the film are not computer-generated.

·The English subtitles in the film were translated by Del Toro himself, because the subtitles in his previous films were full of errors and he no longer trusted others to translate them.