The “genius” director Guillermo del Toro called cinema’s “most stubborn motherfucker”
Because of his oddball visual style, the way he circles back to the same themes, and his unmistakable look, Guillermo del Toro has ended up one of the most recognisable directors going.
The Mexican filmmaker’s best-known works include Spanish-language crackers like Pan’s Labyrinth and The Devil’s Backbone, plus his stop-motion take on Pinocchio. Even when he’s steering bigger franchise flicks like Blade II or Hellboy, you can still clock his fingerprints all over them.
The director is also one of the so-called ‘Three Amigos’ of Mexican cinema, alongside his buddies Alfonso Cuarón and Alejandro González Iñárritu. Together, that trio gave Mexican film a right good shake-up in the late 1990s and early 2000s. They’re still at it, as well, knocking out work at the very top level decades on and still showing Hollywood how it’s done.
With the trio all being around the same age, from the same country, and working in the same field, it was always going to be a matter of time before they met. As del Toro told Deadline, however, his first meeting with Iñárritu was not an entirely positive one.
“Alejandro and I met because Alfonso called me and said, ‘There’s this guy who made a movie called Amores perros, and he’s a goddamned genius, but he’s also really, really stubborn and he should cut the movie a little bit.’ He gave me Alejandro’s phone number and a VHS which I still have of an early cut of Amores perros,” del Toro recalled. “He told me, ‘We’ve all decided that the only guy as stubborn as him is you, so you should go and make him cut the movie.’”
When Iñárritu reminded his friend that fellow director Antonio Urrutia said the same thing, he added, “They did say, ‘This guy is a genius, but he’s the most stubborn motherfucker.’ And it’s still true today.”
Released in 2000, Amores perros (which is a pun that only really works in Spanish) was the first feature film released by Iñárritu. This trio of stories are all linked by a car crash that takes place in Mexico City, with dogs – or ‘perros’ – involved in every one. The film went on to snag a nomination for ‘Best Foreign Language Film’ at the Oscars and kicked off what would become Iñárritu’s long, winding career. It’s had praise heaped on it from all corners, too, everyone from Denis Villeneuve to Red Hot Chili Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis has sung its praises.
Iñárritu might have been reluctant to trim his first foray into filmmaking, but that’s only because he was confident in what he had created. Having confidence in one’s work is half the battle in the creative industry, and the young auteur was ultimately correct to back himself. Over a quarter of a century on from that film’s release, he is now a highly respected name in the film space, with two ‘Best Director’ Oscars to his name. He also helped finally bag Leonardo DiCaprio a statuette, ending one of the longest-running jokes in the movie community.
Between the three of them – del Toro, Iñárritu, and Cuarón – you’re looking at some of the finest films ever made. Of course, their individual talent’s a huge part of it, no question, but the way they’ve had each other’s backs over the years has clearly played a blinder too. As the old saying goes, iron sharpens iron, and you can see it in their work.
