30 Amazing Facts About Guillermo del Toro You Might Have Missed Before

Guillermo del Toro, known for his horrifying yet visually striking creatures with inhuman appearances, has built a impeccable portfolio of feature films with distinctive look and feel, earning him legions of fans and critical acclaim in the process. The writer-director, with his unique talent to blend fairy-tale archetypes, with historical events, is more of an once-in-a-lifetime talent. Although his 2004 “Hellboy” never rose to the box office heights of other superhero movies, and never reached its planned trilogy stage, it remains as one of the most imaginative thrilling superhero movies of the 21st century. Here are some really interesting facts about director that will make you love him more:

"Guillermo del Toro" by Gage Skidmore is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

1.  Before making his dream project “Hellboy,” he fought with the film studios for nearly seven years, to get Ron Perlman play the titular role. In fact, when he first met with the producers, there were so many changes suggested to the character, all of which he vetoed.
2.  He is the founder of the Guadalajara International Film Festival considered as the most prestigious film festival in Latin America. It is among the most important Spanish language film festivals in the world.
3.  At the age of 33, he shoot a movie “Mimic” with a $30 million budget from Miramax Films, in the year 1997. However, he was not happy with the way Miramax treated him.
4.  This led to his friend James Cameron, coming to blows with the co-founder and owner of Miramax – Harvey Weinstein during the 70th Academy Awards.
5.  His movie “The Shape of Water,” was awarded the Golden Lion for best movie at the 74th Venice International Film Festival, making del Toro the first Mexican director to win the award.
6.  Guillermo del Toro Gómez was born on October 9, 1964 to Federico del Toro Torres and Guadalupe Gómez, in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico.
7.  Both his parents are of Spanish descent, and he was raised in a strict Catholic household. He studied at the Centro de Investigación y Estudios Cinematográficos, at the University of Guadalajara.
8.  At the age of 8, he started experimenting with his father's Super 8 camera, and even made short films using his “Planet of the Apes” toys and other objects.
9.  One of these short films was based on a “Serial killer Potato,” which murdered del Toro’s mother and brothers, with ambitions of world domination. It was crushed by a car, just as it stepped outside.
10.  He, with special effects artist Dick Smith, studied special effects and make-up, and worked for 10 years as a special-effects make-up designer. He later formed his own company Necropia.

"Guillermo del Toro" by Gage Skidmore is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

11.  His father was kidnapped in Guadalajara in the year 1997, and his family had to pay twice the amount asked as ransom. Just as Cameron got news of it, Cameron withdrew $1 million in cash and gave it to Del Toro to pay the ransom.
12.  His father was released after the ransom was paid, by even months after the kidnapping, the culprits were never apprehended, and money was never recovered. Following this, his family moved abroad.
13.  On June 2, 2009, del Toro's first novel, “The Strain,” was released, which is the first part of an apocalyptic vampire trilogy. He and Chuck Hogan co-authored the novel.
14.  The second volume – “The Fall,” and the final volume “The Night Eternal” was released in September 2010 and October 2011, respectively.
15.  He launched Mirada Studios with his long-time cinematographer Guillermo Navarro, director Mathew Cullen and executive producer Javier Jimenez, on December 9, 2010
16.  Del Toro maintains residences in Toronto, Canada and Los Angeles, United States. He visits his family in Guadalajara every six weeks once.
17.  In April 2008, he was hired by Peter Jackson to direct the live-action film adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's “The Hobbit.” But, due to the extended delays caused by the financial troubles with MGM, he left the project on May 30, 2010.
18.  Despite no directing any of the movies, he is credited as a co-writer in the movies of the franchise – “An Unexpected Journey,” “The Desolation of Smaug” and “The Battle of the Five Armies.”
19.  Del Toro collaborated with Japanese video game designer Hideo Kojima to produce “P.T.,” a video game intended to be a "playable trailer" for the ninth “Silent Hill” game, which was cancelled.
20.  In the year 2017, Del Toro had an exhibition of work at the Minneapolis Institute of Art titled “Guillermo del Toro: At Home with Monsters,” from March 5, 2017 to May 28, 2017.

"Guillermo del Toro" by Gage Skidmore is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

21.  The exhibition featured his unique collection of paintings, drawings, maquettes, artifacts and concept film art. He had been dreaming about having a great collection since his childhood.
22.  He has a room in his library at home, dedicated to Victorian culture, which he calls “The Dickens room.” He has every work by many Victorian novelists like Charles Dickens, and Wilkie Collins along with hundreds of works about Victorian London and its customs, etiquette, architecture.
23.  Del Toro even owns two houses devoted exclusively to his collection of books, poster artwork and other belongings pertaining to his work.
24.  He announced “Pinocchio,” a dark stop-motion film based on the Italian novel “The Adventures of Pinocchio,” with the production company – The Jim Henson Company.
25.  The project had been in development for more than a decade, with the studio Shadown Machine starting the pre-production procedures, and Patrick McHale co-writing the script.
26.  With not enough finance, he cancelled the project in November 2017, which was revived by Netflix, backing with the required budget, in October 2018.
27.  In the year 2019, del Toro was featured in Hideo Kojima's video game “Death Stranding,” providing his likeness for the character Deadman.
28.  He met Lorenza Newton, cousin of Mexican singer Guadalupe Pineda, while studying at the Instituto de Ciencias in Guadalajara. The duo got married in 1986.
29.  The couple have two children together – Marisa Del Toro and Mariana Del Toro. In early 2017, the duo announced that they have separated and in September 2017, their divorce was finalized.
30.  During the filming of 2013 movie “Pacific Rim,” he spent several weeks with visual effects supervisor John Knoll, to discuss the physics of giant characters going into very specific detail, like the air displacement from a Jaeger moving between skyscrapers would shake the building’s windows.
31.  Guillermo del Toro Net Worth: $30 Million