Little White Lies Issue 73

Directed by GUILLERMO DEL TORO Starring SALLY HAWKINS, DOUG JONES, RICHARD JENKINS Released 16 FEBRUARY, 2018 In a promotional interview for The Shape of Water, director Guillermo del Toro expressed his regret at having turned down an opportunity some ten years ago to oversee the resurrection of Universal’s monster movie series. The franchise, as is the way of these things, moved ahead without him. It was rebranded the ‘Dark Universe,’ only to implode at launch with the release of The Mummy this past summer. Despite the presence of Tom Cruise as their space chimp, the studio's $125m experiment in Marvel-bothering was summarily pronounced DOA. Audiences can count themselves lucky that del Toro chose to forge his own path, away from the enforced strictures of an inherited property. The decision left…

The man who adds a dash of dark whimsy to his every project returns with a cold war-era fantasy saga about the romantic pairing of a mute cleaning lady and a humanoid fish creature. The Shape of Water is Guillermo del Toro's remarkable tenth feature, and it has been a long and winding road since his extraordinary debut, Cronos, in 1993. We speak to the iconic director about his fondness for monsters, old movies and underdog outsiders. 1. ON MONSTERS How do you define a monster? Rather than defining a monster, let me define the monster movie. A monster movie is a movie where the monster is not hidden or hinted at, but displayed. It’s right there in front of you. Not only as a creature that is a part…

There are many paths that lead to Hollywood, but only Hawkins can claim to have arrived there fuelled by David Walliams’ projectile vomit. From supporting roles in comedy sketch series, Little Britain, to leading lady duty in the latest from Guillermo Del Toro, her rise to stardom has been not so much meteoric as gradual, but unceasing. Her filmography is satisfyingly diverse, from parts in some of Woody Allen’s worst work (Cassandra’s Dream) as well as his best (Blue Jasmine), to spearheading feminist feel-gooder, Made in Dagenham. What remains true, as it has since her earliest screen appearances, is that there’s a compelling sense of mischief and mystery to Hawkins. She brings it to every role. In The Shape of Water, she takes on the mannerisms of a silent screen…

“It is alienating to be told you’re something that you’re not.” A beautiful woman agrees to live as the captive of a beast. He falls in love. Eventually she does too. This transforms him. Guillermo del Toro is a major fan, and was a whisker away from adapting ‘Beauty and the Beast’ for the big screen. It didn't happen, and so he made his own socially critical version and called it The Shape of Water. There is an immense erotic undertow to this primal story, and so it is no surprise that there are many pornographic versions, both cartoon and live-action in nature. This classic story of interspecies love has been retold too many times in too many forms to count since it first appeared in 1740 as Madame de…

Growing up in imperial Russia, before emmigrating as a small child to America in 1909 along with his mother and sister, legendary horror producer Val Lewton identified with the role of the outsider from an early age. Working his way up from small-time author of gothic fiction to right-hand man of legendary Gone with the Wind producer David O. Selznick, Lewton’s fresh perspective quickly caught the eye of iconic Hollywood studio RKO Pictures. The studio, which had put all of its money behind a flop called Citizen Kane the year before, was nearing bankruptcy. Therefore, when Lewton was given $125,000 to create a film called Cat People back in 1942, RKO was more than happy to receive something schlocky so long as it got the tills ringing. Lewton talked his…

It wouldn’t be a stretch or disrespectful to say that John Hurt was born to play outsiders. With his short and unusual figure, his soulful but tortured eyes, and most importantly, his gaunt but always compelling face, the late British actor excelled in portraying characters who were heartbreakingly, or terrifyingly, different. Hurt’s brief but memorable appearance getting his chest cracked open by the extraterrestrial namesake of Alien was brilliant casting: not only did he literally host an outsider inside himself, but his febrile appearance also set him apart from the other, more muscular and conventionally attractive male astronauts. In David Lynch’s The Elephant Man, Hurt was himself the monster, transforming his heavy prostheses into both literal and metaphorical outgrowths from his own fascinatingly bizarre body. Yet what makes his John…