[Del Toro has clarified that in this interview, he was talking about a different film in development called Silver, not the black-and-white indie. The clarifications are below, followed by our original story.]
With Pacific Rim 2 now on hold, it looks like Guillermo del Toro will likely be following up Crimson Peak with a black-and-white indie film that might star John Hurt. In the past, he hasn’t given up any details on the project, but The Guardian got him to spill a bit, and it looks like he’ll be brining vampires into another piece of his work.
According to The Guardian, the project is called “Silva”, and it’s “about a Mexican masked wrestler who discovers that all politicians are vampires.” Del Toro has dealt with vampires since his first movie, Cronos, which co-opts vampire mythology for a story about a man who discovers a device that grants immortality but requires human blood to function. The director has also included bloodsuckers in Blade II and The Strain TV series, the latter of which was based on a trilogy of novels he co-wrote with Chuck Hogan.
While the director certainly has a fascination with vamps, it’s the setting on Silva that makes it intriguing since del Toro has described himself as in “involuntary exile” from his home country of Mexico. For those who don’t know, Del Toro’s father was kidnapped by bandits and held for ransom for 72 days in 1998, and the director feels that it’s not safe for him and his family to live in his native country anymore.
We don’t typically associate del Toro with “political” films, but his movies are always deeply personal, and it sounds like Silva will be no different in that regard. Although I’m excited for Pacific Rim 2, this setup for Silva sounds more exciting because it seems so different for del Toro and yet familiar enough that he could provide yet another fresh spin to the vampire genre.
Speaking of del Toro, if you’ve missed my retrospective pieces on his films, click on the respective links for Cronos, Mimic: The Director’s Cut, The Devil’s Backbone, Blade II, and Hellboy. Also, come back on Tuesday for my review of Crimson Peak, which opens this Friday.
