Guillermo del Toro names his “favourite shot” from his career so far
A true visionary of contemporary cinema, Mexican film icon Guillermo del Toro has persistently blended the boundaries of genre by crafting fantastical worlds beyond our wildest imagination with some of the most visually awe-inspiring artistry the movie medium has ever seen, rightfully making him one of 21st-century cinema’s greats.
Besides his innovative and genius visual prowess as a director, del Toro also possesses a talent for modern storytelling, either in the simultaneously dark yet uplifting nature of Pan’s Labyrinth or the love tale deep in Crimson Peak’s heart. Simply, del Toro is a master in his craft and fully deserves all the acclaim that has come his way over the years.
Del Toro’s explorations of human nature through the lens of folklore, horror and fantasy have led to a remarkable career where every scene seems to be perfectly and painstakingly crafted according to his vision and wishes. With that in mind, the director once named the “favourite shot” from across his filmography, a moment that epitomises his work in general.
Talking with DGA, del Toro once spoke of the climax of his 2001 gothic horror film The Devil’s Backbone. “The final shot on Devil’s Backbone might be my favourite shot I’ve ever done,” he said. “I was very much influenced by Westerns – my favourite is The Searchers. The shot of John Wayne’s silhouette against the frame of the door is so epic.”
The Devil’s Backbone is a truly haunting work of cinema, a typical del Toro narrative in terms of its Spanish Civil War setting and its beautiful supernatural elements. It’s no wonder del Toro admires his own work so much in this instance, as the cinematography in this exploration of the effects of war is nothing short of breathtaking.
Continuing to explain how the film’s final shot went down, del Toro noted, “It was the last day, like an hour from sundown. We were tearing our hair out; we couldn’t make it. The shot we [already] had was the shadow of the professor, who was a ghost now, framed by the architecture of the orphanage, trapped like an insect in amber, with the kids outside in the sunlight. I saw that shot on the video, and I said, ‘That’s the end of the movie. We don’t need anything else’.”
He signed off on the matter, “I thought it was a perfect way to show the demarcation between the ghost world of shadows and the real world of light.”
