Guillermo Del Toro is a cinematic treasure. You can dislike the genres he tackles or the fanboy themes he is obsessed with, but he's a visualist in the truest sense of the word. In 2006 Del Toro finally made a film worthy of his immense talent: "Pan's Labyrinth." Everything clicked in that movie, it brought all sets of movie fans together to hail it for what it was: a masterpiece. This was no "Blade 2" or "Hell Boy," instead it was a cinematic triumph with enough stunning images to pop your eyes wide open. A modern day "Wizard Of Oz" with a schizophrenic little Dorothy, the most imaginatively created monsters and an open ended finale that made us all talk about it when the lights came back on. Del Toro has always had a knack for visuals but never had the story to back it up - here he did. His last film was "Crimson Peak," which I very much admired for its visuals more than its tiresome story, was met with a polite shrug, but now he's back in "Pan's Labyrinth" territory "The Shape of Water."
“The Shape of Water” is the upcoming film written, produced, and directed by Del Toro. The film takes place in the United States in 1963, where there’s a hidden, high-security government laboratory that is housing a secret experiment. If you guessed that the secret experiment is related to a monster, per usual del Toro style, then you’d be right. Sally Hawkins and Octavia Spencer star in the film as two workers who stumble upon the classified experiment. Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Del Toro regular Doug Jones round out the cast.
This could either be a visually sumptuous nothing-burger like "Crimson Peak" or investigate the deep depths of human emotions like "Pan's Labyrinth." Stay tuned.
Fox Searchlight will release “The Shape of Water” on December 8th