Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro recently revisited the challenges he encountered while filming ‘Pan’s Labyrinth,’ nearly two decades after its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. Despite the movie’s success, del Toro described the experience as one of the most difficult in his career. At this year’s Cannes Festival, he presented a new 4K restoration of the film, which initially received a remarkable 22-minute standing ovation.
Del Toro, now 61, shared that creating ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ was an arduous process, stating, “Twenty years ago, making this movie was like going against everything at all times.” He also revealed that it was his second worst filmmaking experience, with his first being ‘Mimic’ involving the Weinsteins. ‘Mimic,’ released in 1997, was his English-language debut, a sci-fi horror film produced by Bob and Harvey Weinstein, and starred Mira Sorvino and Josh Brolin.
Throughout the years, del Toro has been vocal about his negative encounter while working on ‘Mimic,’ attributing it to conflicts with the Weinsteins over creative control and studio intervention. Recalling his time with the Weinsteins, he expressed, “I really hated the experience. My first American experience was almost my last because it was with the Weinsteins and Miramax.” Del Toro emphasized the challenges he faced, comparing the experience to his father’s kidnapping in the late ’90s, stating that the latter made more sense as he understood the kidnappers’ motives.
