If you're familiar with my books, my Goodreads list or my FAQ, you know I'm a fan of Guillermo del Toro. His haunting, beautiful, twisted portrayals of love, hate, mystery, wonder and fantasy are as super-saturated as his color palette and linger years after I've left the theater. This was equally true of Amelie and Pan's Labyrinth and, most recently, The Shape of Water. (Even his "kid's stuff" on Netflix, Trollhunters, is much darker and more flavored/nuanced than many other children's animated series you'll find elsewhere!)
He's won Best Picture & Best Director for his "Beauty and the Beast" retelling where the beast does not change and, in fact, we learn more about the nature of the "princess" and her desires, painted red in the world of green. As a creator, a writer and an avid reader and dreamer of myth, legend and fairy tale, the way he approaches both story and character speak to how I view the world as a primal storyteller--the stories feel ancient and, therefore, more true. There is a longevity and a depth to his world, even with a fresh (and often sexy) take: there are layers built on a foundation that feels real. This, more than anything else, is something I aspire to, whether writing fantasy, science fiction or some other tweaked reality in fiction. It's important to have a guiding light and, for me, it's tinted, sparkling and surreal.
This quote from Guillermo del Toro's acceptance speech really spoke to me:
"Everyone who is dreaming about using genre fantasy to tell the stories that are real in the world today, you can do it. This is a door. Kick it open and come on in."
