{"id":876422,"date":"2026-10-09T15:06:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T15:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/876422\/"},"modified":"2026-10-09T15:06:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T15:06:14","slug":"pans-labyrinth-at-20-i-wanted-to-see-the-kid-win-says-guillermo-del-toro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/876422\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ at 20: ‘I wanted to see the kid win,’ says Guillermo del Toro"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The minuscule yet distinctly humanoid figure of a fairy flaps its wings as it flies into the ancient ruins of a bygone kingdom. Guiding a young heroine to meet a mysterious faun, for a moment, the fantastical creature looks as though it might cross the threshold of the screen.<\/p>\n

It is in that instant that Guillermo del Toro \u2014 wearing 3D glasses while sitting at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures\u2019 imposing David Geffen Theater for a tech check \u2014 chuckles with pride as if to say, \u201cLook at that.\u201d Later that night, almost 1,000 fans were transported into his entrancing 2006 masterwork, \u201cPan\u2019s Labyrinth,\u201d (a.k.a. \u201cEl Laberinto del Fauno\u201d) at the premiere of the new 3D version.<\/p>\n

Back in theaters across the country on Friday (which is also Del Toro\u2019s 62nd birthday), \u201cPan\u2019s Labyrinth\u201d is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a new 4K restoration, available in both 2D and in the aforementioned 3D transfer that Del Toro himself oversaw.<\/p>\n

\"Esta <\/p>\n

Doug Jones, left, plays the faun that beckons to Ofelia, right, played by Ivana Baquero in \u201cPan\u2019s Labyrinth.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Scott A. Garfitt \/ Andreea Alexandru \/ Invision \/ AP)<\/p>\n

As brutal as it is spellbinding, the Mexican filmmaker\u2019s modern classic unfolds during the Spanish Civil War \u2014 more precisely, in 1944 \u2014 as young Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) and her pregnant mother move into the camp run by the ruthless Capt. Vidal (Sergi L\u00f3pez). <\/p>\n

Amid the bloodshed, Ofelia discovers an underworld of magical entities, including the alluring faun (Doug Jones), who convinces her that she is a princess who must reclaim her royal status.<\/p>\n

By winning three Academy Awards and being nominated for two more \u2014 one for Del Toro\u2019s screenplay, the other for foreign language film, representing Mexico \u2014 \u201cPan\u2019s Labyrinth\u201d signified an artistic watershed moment in Del Toro\u2019s career. These accolades came after he directed two comic-book adaptations for Hollywood studios: \u201cBlade II\u201d and \u201cHellboy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond the recognition, the experience felt spiritually transformative for the Guadalajara native; not the least because of the hurdles he overcame to bring it to fruition.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Pan\u2019s\u2019 marks a big divide in what I did before and what I did after. I became invested in a different way in filmmaking,\u201d Del Toro tells me. \u201cI don\u2019t know how to describe it, but filmmaking became a religion, as opposed to something that I could do. It fused with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Though the film is now regarded as one of the greatest works of the 21st century, when Del Toro set out to make it, the industry was not receptive to his ideas.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything I thought I wanted to say about war in \u2018Devil\u2019s Backbone\u2019 seemed obsolete, because we had gone through 9\/11 and the world had changed,\u201d Del Toro recalls. \u201cI didn\u2019t want to do an American movie. I was being offered a lot of comic- book movies and said, \u2018I got to do a companion piece for \u201cDevil\u2019s Backbone\u201d no matter what.\u2019 But nobody wanted to do the movie.\u201d<\/p>\n

One key objection was the mature tone of the narrative, in which the child protagonist is directly confronted and endangered by the evils derived from fascist ideologies.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey said, \u2018If it\u2019s a fairy tale then it should be a family movie,\u2019 because I\u2019d been offered \u2018Narnia\u2019 a year before by [former Walden Media chief executive] Cary Granat,\u201d Del Toro tells me. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe said, \u2018Why don\u2019t you do \u2018Narnia\u2019?\u2019 And I said, \u2018Because I want to do my own version of a fairy tale where the lion doesn\u2019t resurrect and it\u2019s about a pitiless world against a boundless imagination.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

Del Toro\u2019s interest in stories where the woes of children are taken seriously was spurred by \u2018Los Olvidados,\u2019 Luis Bu\u00f1uel\u2019s classic from 1950, about a group of neglected children surviving a harsh reality in the streets of Mexico City.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I saw \u2018Los Olvidados,\u2019 I was in my early teens,\u201d says Del Toro. \u201cI thought every time somebody told a story about a child that was unsentimental and that was a little brutal \u2014 it could be \u2018The Spirit of the Beehive\u2019 or \u2018Los Olvidados\u2019 or \u2018The Red Balloon\u2019 or even Bobby Driscoll in \u2018The Window\u2019 \u2014 whenever you saw a child in real danger, a child in jeopardy, a child in moral dilemma, like \u2018The Fallen Idol,\u2019 I really was transported.\u201d<\/p>\n

Children, Del Toro believes, are often invisible to adults. They are \u201ccartoons\u201d in the eyes of \u201cregular adults.\u201d Thus, when his mother started reading child psychology books to better understand a young Del Toro, he read them as well, so that he could try to manipulate her.<\/p>\n

Del Toro laughs mischievously as he remembers his antics. \u201cI would do exactly what the book said, and I realized I could work within that preconception and make my grandma buy me horror comic books or make my mom allow me to miss school,\u201d Del Tor recalls. \u201cOfelia is very strong. That was the point of the movie for me. I wanted to see the clash of wills between a young kid and a fascist captain, and I wanted to see the kid win.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ivana <\/p>\n

(Teresa Isasi \/ Picturehouse)<\/p>\n

Del Toro\u2019s mother, Guadalupe, died in 2022. But she lives on in cinema, thanks to the 1985 landmark queer Mexican film \u201cDo\u00f1a Herlinda and Her Son,\u201d by director Jaime Humberto Hermosillo, where she played the titular Do\u00f1a Herlinda. <\/p>\n

And if you look closely, you\u2019ll also find Del Toro in the movie, which was filmed in Guadalajara.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a cameo with my ex-wife in it. Lorenza. She\u2019s the receptionist and I appear dancing in Chapala, but I\u2019m super thin, so you can never recognize me,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m dancing with a girl that I liked, but I was already in the throes of dating the one who became my wife, Lorenza.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then there was the question of the picture\u2019s language. Del Toro wouldn\u2019t waver on making \u201cPan\u2019s Labyrinth\u201d in Spanish. <\/p>\n

\u201cMany of them said, \u2018We\u2019ll do it if you do it in English \u2014 set in Spain, same ending, the girl dies, no problem, but in English.\u2019 And I said, \u2018I can\u2019t. It\u2019s not true to the movie.\u2019 I\u2019m not saying you can never do that, but it\u2019s always this \u2018Zorro\u2019 thing like, \u2018Are you in a hurry, se\u00f1or?\u2019 or \u2018Come to the hacienda,\u2019\u201d he says, doing a funny, exaggerated accent on the Spanish words.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re trying to contrast reality versus fantasy, the reality has to be in its language, in its location,\u201d Del Toro adds, emphasizing his resolve to make the movie in his native tongue. \u201cI thought, \u2018This is about the reality clashing with the fantasy. I have to make the reality stylized, but I don\u2019t want to do it in English, because then everything is a construct. Everything is just an idea.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2026, the film\u2019s bilingual appeal is a major component of the marketing strategy that Cineverse \u2014 the entertainment company that Del Toro approached to handle the restoration and rerelease of \u201cPan\u2019s Labyrinth\u201d \u2014 is implementing to reach audiences across the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of our messages are in English and in Spanish. The messaging around the making of the 3D \u2014 Guillermo likes to say \u2018F\u2014 AI,\u2019 but we positioned it as \u2018Made for humans, for humans. Hecho por humanos, para humanos,\u2019\u201d says Yolanda Macias, chief motion pictures officer at Cineverse. \u201cThat\u2019s a really strong message that has resonated with our fans.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Mexican American woman whose parents emigrated from Jalisco, Macias sees \u201cPan\u2019s Labyrinth\u201d as a timeless movie that\u2019s as relevant today as it was two decades ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not ignoring a very important segment of the audience, which is the Latino population who have always, in my experience, shown an interest in creators from Mexico or from Latin America,\u201d Macias says. \u201cAnd we are so proud of Guillermo for being that person for this audience.\u201d<\/p>\n

When first envisioning \u201cPan\u2019s Labyrinth,\u201d Del Toro found himself grappling with existential concerns related to the meaning and relevance of what each person leaves behind when they are gone. Can anything we mortals create stand the test of time? Does it matter?<\/p>\n

\"Oscar <\/p>\n

(Gina Ferazzi \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things I was going through was I thought, \u2018Is making movies worth it? You give them years and years and years, and then they just move down the current into the oblivion of the culture,\u2019\u201d Del Toro says. \u201cA central theme in the film is, \u2018Can we give our lives to something that doesn\u2019t change the world?\u2019 That\u2019s why the movie ends with a little flower blooming in a dried tree. That\u2019s all that is left of her story in the real world.\u201d<\/p>\n

His films will one day too become flowers left not only as proof of his time on earth, but perhaps as messages for those to come who have the sensibility to appreciate them.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can say, \u2018Ofelia lived in the other kingdom,\u2019 but in the real world, there\u2019s only one tiny flower. And that\u2019s why it says, \u2018For those that know where to look.\u2019 Because that\u2019s what we do as filmmakers. When you \u2018discover\u2019 a filmmaker, you say, \u2018I discovered this guy Fellini.\u2019 Well, he\u2019s been there for a while, but sure. Or you discover Miyazaki or Mamoru Oshii … They\u2019re continents, but they are only in maps that are very secret. I like that image.\u201d<\/p>\n

So long as they are found, Del Toro doesn\u2019t worry that much about how people encounter them. <\/p>\n

\u201c[Films] live on to a certain degree. Like when we were shooting \u2018Frankenstein,\u2019 I said, \u2018We will live forever in the Netflix queue,\u2019\u201d he recalls, trying not to laugh. \u201cTheatrical is the best. There\u2019s no comparison. But I remember my childhood, I saw all the Universal monster movies on TV, and they were monumentally important for me. There\u2019s something to be said about accessibility that is also important.\u201d<\/p>\n

I agree with him \u2014 and mention that some of the most revelatory movie-watching experiences for me as a young cinephile happened thanks to bootleg DVDs, which I would buy as a teen in Mexico City.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love the pirate DVDs in Mexico,\u201d says Del Toro with a laugh. \u201cI\u2019ll tell you a little story: We went to promote \u2018Hellboy\u2019 in Mexico City, and we were having coffee. A guy came in and said, \u2018You want to buy movies?\u2019 And he had \u2018Hellboy\u2019 already, opening week … and it didn\u2019t have a cover either!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

Another distinction that \u201cPan\u2019s Labyrinth\u201d holds is that it was the last film in Spanish that Del Toro directed. But that could change, he says; he still has another project he\u2019d like to make in Mexico.<\/p>\n

\u201cI actually have an idea that I would love to shoot, but I want to make it a drama. I don\u2019t want to make it a fantasy movie,\u201d he explains. \u201cI have a great story that I want to shoot one day. It\u2019s a kidnapping scene from three points of view. The victim, the people doing the pickup, and another component that I will not reveal.\u201d (Del Toro\u2019s late father, Federico, was famously kidnapped in Guadalajara in the late 1990s.)<\/p>\n

The thought of Del Toro making another Mexican film in the future, reminded me that the original screenplay for his period ghost story, \u201cThe Devil\u2019s Backbone,\u201d was set in Mexico, but a lack of funding forced him to shift the production to Spain, with the help of Pedro Almod\u00f3var\u2019s company El Deseo.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was about a traveling circus during the [Mexican] revolution with a mother, a father and a boy. It was full of jarred fetuses. The boy was a clown, and the father was a magician. I was trying to do Bergman\u2019s \u2018Hour of the Wolf\u2019 or \u2018The Magician\u2019 \u2014 modest but creepy,\u201d he explains. \u201cBut it was very different. I had the orphanage, I had the legend of the fetuses and a ghost; and I had the devil live in the monastery.\u201d<\/p>\n

In any language, Del Toro is a fierce advocate against the use of generative AI in artistic creation. He believes that anything touched by humans has a better chance to endure. The love audiences still hold for \u201cPan\u2019s Labyrinth\u201d is a testament to this sentiment.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Pan\u2019s Labyrinth\u201d] is very truthful to who I was. And whenever you are able to be truthful, people feel that it matters to you,\u201d Del Toro says. \u201cAnd when you think it matters to someone, you cherish it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The minuscule yet distinctly humanoid figure of a fairy flaps its wings as it flies into the ancient…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":876423,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[368728,11364,368729,22029,88,2695,33266,209415,328394,9999,26,206,34577,11763,13546,368731,368730],"class_list":["post-876422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-american-movie","tag-audience","tag-child-protagonist","tag-english","tag-entertainment","tag-film","tag-guillermo-del-toro","tag-harsh-reality","tag-labyrinth","tag-message","tag-mexico","tag-movies","tag-pan","tag-spanish","tag-story","tag-yolanda-macias","tag-young-ofelia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=876422"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876422\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/876423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=876422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=876422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=876422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}