Age: 61
male
Guillermo del Toro Gómez (Spanish: [ɡiˈʝeɾmo ðelˈtoɾo]; born 9 October 1964) is a Mexican filmmaker, author, and artist. His work has been characterized by a strong connection to fairy tales, gothicism, and horror, often blending the genres to infuse visual or poetic beauty into the grotesque. He has had a lifelong fascination with monsters, which he considers symbols of great power. He is known for pioneering dark fantasy in the film industry and using insectile and religious imagery, his themes of Catholicism, and celebrating imperfection, underworld motifs, practical special effects, and dominant amber lighting. Throughout his career, del Toro has shifted between Spanish-language films—such as Cronos (1993), The Devil's Backbone (2001), and Pan's Labyrinth (2006)—and English-language films, including Mimic (1997), Blade II (2002), Hellboy (2004) and its sequel Hellboy II: The Golden Army(2008), Pacific Rim (2013), Crimson Peak (2015), The Shape of Water (2017), Nightmare Alley (2021), and Pinocchio (2022). As a producer or writer, he worked on the films The Orphanage (2007), Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (2010), The Hobbit film series (2012–2014), Mama (2013), The Book of Life (2014), Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018), Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019), and The Witches (2020). In 2022, he created the Netflix anthology horror series Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities, featuring a collection of classical horror stories. With Chuck Hogan, he co-authored The Strain trilogy of novels (2009–2011), which was later adapted into a comic book series (2011–15) and a live-action television series (2014–17). With DreamWorks Animation and Netflix, he created the animated franchise Tales of Arcadia, which includes the series Trollhunters (2016–18), 3Below (2018–19), and Wizards (2020) and the sequel film Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans (2021). Del Toro is close friends with fellow Mexican filmmakers Alfonso Cuarón and Alejandro G. Iñárritu, collectively known as "The Three Amigos of Mexican Cinema". He has received several awards, including three Academy Awards, three BAFTA Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, a Daytime Emmy Award, and a Golden Lion. He was included in Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2018, and he received a motion picture star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2019.
Guillermo del Toro
Director
for Director in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Suggested by marley96
In 1868, rumors of a sea monster attacking ships in the Pacific Ocean have disrupted shipping lanes. The United States invites Professor Pierre M. Aronnax and his assistant, Conseil, onto a Navy expedition to prove the monster's existence. On board with them is the cocky master harpooner Ned Land. After months of searching, the "monster" is spotted shortly before it rams the warship. Ned and Aronnax are thrown overboard, and Conseil goes in after Aronnax. Now helpless, the frigate drifts away, and no one aboard responds to the overboard passengers. The three find a strange-looking metal vessel, and realize the "monster" is a man-made "submerging boat" that appears deserted. Aronnax finds a large viewport and witnesses an underwater funeral. Ned, Aronnax, and Conseil attempt to leave in their lifeboat, but the submarine crew stops the castaways. The captain introduces himself as Nemo, master of the Nautilus. He returns Ned and Conseil to the deck while offering Aronnax, whom he recognizes for his work, the chance to stay. After Aronnax proves willing to die with his companions, Nemo allows Ned and Conseil to remain. Nemo takes them to the penal colony island of Rura Penthe. Nemo was a prisoner there, as were many of his crew. The prisoners are loading a munitions ship. The Nautilus rams it, destroying its cargo and killing the crew. An anguished Nemo tells Aronnax that his actions have saved thousands from death in war; he also discloses that this "hated nation" tortured his wife and son to death while attempting to force him to reveal the secrets of his work. Ned discovers the coordinates of Nemo's secret island base, Vulcania, and releases messages in bottles, hoping somebody will find them. Off the coast of New Guinea, the Nautilus becomes stranded on a reef. Ned is surprised when Nemo allows him to go ashore with Conseil, ostensibly to collect specimens, while strictly admonishing them to stay on the beach. Ned goes off alone to explore avenues of escape. While drinking from a pool, he sees human skulls on stakes. Ned runs for his life and rejoins Conseil, and they row away, pursued by cannibals. Aboard ship, the cannibals are repelled by electrical charges through its hull. Nemo is furious with Ned for disobeying his orders, confining him to the brig. A warship approaches, firing upon Nautilus, which descends into the depths, where it attracts a giant squid. After a similar electric charge fails to repel the monster, Nemo and his men surface during a storm to dislodge it. Nemo is caught in one of its tentacles. Ned, having escaped from captivity, saves Nemo from drowning. Nemo has a change of heart and claims he wants to make peace with the world. As the Nautilus nears Vulcania, Nemo finds the island surrounded by warships whose marines are converging on his base. As Nemo goes ashore, Ned tries to identify himself as the author of the bottled messages. Aronnax is furious, recognizing that Nemo will destroy all evidence of his discoveries. Nemo enters the base and activates a time bomb, but is mortally wounded on Nautilus's deck from a slug to the back. After navigating the submarine away from Vulcania, Nemo announces he will be "taking the Nautilus down for the last time". The crew declare they will accompany their captain in death. Aronnax, Conseil, and Ned are confined to their cabins. The Nautilus's crew also retreat to their cabins at Nemo's instructions. Ned escapes and manages to surface the Nautilus, hitting a reef in the process and causing the sub to flood. Nemo staggers to his salon viewport, watching his beloved sea as he dies. Aronnax tries retrieving his detailed journal, but the urgency of their escape obliges Ned to knock him unconscious and carry him out. The companions witness Vulcania explode, and Ned apologizes to Aronnax for hitting him. As the Nautilus disappears beneath the waves, Nemo's last words to Aronnax echo: "There is hope for the future. And when the world is ready for a new and better life, all this will someday come to pass, in God's good time".
