Guillermo Del Toro reassures “no goddamn AI” in ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ re-release
Guillermo Del Toro has reassured fans in attendance at San Diego’s Comic Con that there is “absolutely no goddamn AI” in the 3D re-release of his classic film, Pan’s Labyrinth.
On July 24th, del Toro reinforced his previously vocalised anti-AI stance when discussing the re-release of Pan’s Labyrinth in cinemas to celebrate the movie’s 20th anniversary.
“I said, ‘Absolutely no goddamn AI,’” said Del Toro to applause. He added, “It’s much more expensive. I don’t care. The thing is, what we’re protecting is the beauty and the redeeming power of art.”
The original 2006 movie is a dark fantasy film set in Spain in 1944, among the ashes and brutal aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, in which the only reprieve is a mysterious underground maze in which a faun resides.
It comes as no surprise that the coveted director is not a fan of the technology, after an explosive interview in 2025 saw him insist, “The other day, somebody wrote me an email, said, ‘What is your stance on AI?’ And my answer was very short. I said, ‘I’d rather die.'”
Later in the year, del Toro used his acceptance speech for the ‘Vanguard Tribute’ prize at the Gotham Awards to re-state the sentiment: “I would like to extend our gratitude [to the crew behind the scenes of Frankenstein and say: Fuck AI.”
While giving his address at Comic-Con, the director also revealed that there was a lot of “adversity” on set originally, as his crew struggled to understand his initial creative vision.
“We had a lot of adversity in the movie,” said Del Toro. “And a lot of the crew was very skeptical. They would see a faun come in in the middle of a civil war movie, and they would say, ‘This fucker is crazy.’”
Elsewhere at this year’s Comic-Con, Johnny Depp has made his major Hollywood return while cosplaying as Charles Dickens’ famous villain Ebenezer Scrooge for the new gothic movie, Ebenezer.
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