In the often generic world of Hollywood, Guillermo del Toro has stood out as a unique voice in blending fantasy and horror, most notably with Pan’s Labyrinth, his Hellboy films, Crimson Peak, and his 2018 Best Picture winner The Shape of Water. In recent years, the filmmaker has been working seemingly non-stop from project to project, writing and producing others while helming his more high-profile ones.
Now Guillermo del Toro has found another passion project to produce in the form of Mexican writer/director Issa López’s "werewolf-Western." Do I need to say more? The concept already sounds amazing on that description alone! López elaborated with these words to Entertainment Weekly:
Yes, I have a movie with Guillermo del Toro, who not only became a champion of that movie but said, ‘What are you going to do next? Let’s do something!' I could not believe that. So, we’re prepping a werewolf movie, a supernatural Western. It’s a werewolf-Western! I’m super excited. He has the script, I wrote it, he loves it, and we’re gearing up to make it. The thing is, there’s not really that many brilliant, brilliant werewolf movies. An American Werewolf in London is the big one. I think it’s time to revisit. It’s about revisiting the essence of what it is, which is trying to contain the beast in you. It’s as simple as that, and I think that’s perfectly relatable with humankind, and particularly the moment that we’re living in.
It’s about time for the werewolf to make a comeback on the big screen! Issa López impressed Guillermo del Toro with her 2017 horror indie Tigers Are Not Afraid. The Spanish-language horror mystery is about a young orphan girl named Estrella (Paola Lara) who is at the center of drug cartel turmoil in a Mexican town. During a violent happening at her school, Estrella’s teacher hands her three pieces of chalk, arming her with three wishes in the haunting world she lives in.
It will be exciting to see what the talented filmmaker does when placing the fascinating mythology of werewolves in the Western genre. She makes a great point about how there really hasn’t been a memorable movie starring werewolves in some time. While the story of the shapeshifting beast howling at the full moon is iconic, it has often come off as tacky on the big screen. If anyone can change this it’s Issa López and Guillermo del Toro!
Guillermo del Toro will be juggling this new project with his upcoming stop-motion take on Pinocchio coming to Netflix in 2021. He will go with a dark and twisted take on the fairytale (not to be confused with Disney’s project) that is set during the rise of Mussolini in fascist Italy. He’s also working on a remake of 1947 noir Nightmare Alley starring Bradley Cooper about a con-man who pairs with a female psychologist to swindle the rich.
There’s certainly a ton of exciting projects coming from Guillermo del Toro in the next few years, and it’s nice to see him assist new talent with his recognizable name. You can see his project Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, which he co-wrote/produced in theaters now.
