Sunday, April 27, 2008

del Toro Hates Heroic Fantasy?!?

Er, say what?!?

The other Brian Murphy over at The Silver Key has a link to an old Salon article in which del Toro out-and-out expresses his distaste for "little guys and dragons, hairy feet, hobbits -- I've never been into that at all. I don't like sword and sorcery, I hate all that stuff."

Uh-huh, sure. Sorry, but I ain't buyin' it. The guy who made "Hellboy" doesn't like heroic fantasy? The guy who gave us the insect-fairies and eldritch satyrs of "Pan's Labyrinth" doesn't like "little guys and dragons"?

And if I'm to believe that del Toro doesn't like sword-and-sorcery, what the heck is Elric doing in this trailer for "Hellboy 2"?



By the way, Brian, when are you starting this "Temple of Elemental Evil" campaign of yours? ;)

4 comments:

Brian Murphy said...

Hey, is that supposed to be the actual Elric, or just an albino swordsman who looks like him? If it is Elric, that's pretty cool--I don't believe he's ever been committed to film before.

I'm also puzzled by the del Toro interview--if in fact he doesn't like traditional fantasy, why on earth would he have asked to direct The Hobbit? It can't be just money and career advancement. He must love the source material at some level, else I can't see why he'd commit to such a lengthy project. I'm sure del Toro knows that Peter Jackson breathed, slept, and ate LOTR for four years of his life, and that he's getting into a similar deal with The Hobbit.

As for the "Temple of Elemental Evil" campaign, heck, I'd love to do it. It's all about time (or lack thereof), my friend...call it the 21st century curse of demanding jobs and long commutes. But given time, I'd break out the 1E DM's screen and the lead miniatures and game the days away in Greyhawk.

trollsmyth said...

No, unfortunately, that's not supposed to be Elric, but it's hard to look at him and not say, "Hey, isn't that the cursed prince of Melnibone?" ;)

I'm sure del Toro knows what he's getting into. Maybe he was speaking without really knowing what he was talking about? I used to say I disliked mystery novels until I read a few of them, so who knows? Or maybe he really doesn't enjoy fantasy, but he's willing to give "The Hobbit" his best shot as a way of building up the good-will and prestige necessary to get the financing and support he needs to do "The Mountains of Madness".

That said, hearing del Toro say he doesn't like fantasy is a bit like hearing, say, Lance Armstrong say he doesn't like being outdoors or Hillary Clinton say she doesn't like speaking in front of cameras. It may be the absolute truth, but you sure coulda fooled me. ;)

- Brian

trollsmyth said...

Oh, and I know exactly what you mean about life getting in the way of important stuff like gaming. Such a pain in the neck...

Keep your head up!

- Brian

Jack Badelaire said...

Yeah...doesn't like fantasy...right. That trailer looks like an advert for Eberron or somesuch. Whacked out magic/clockwork crap all over the place, strange alien/monster/whatevers...and some dude with anime hair dual-wielding swords and doing a bunch of acrobatics. This movie is like a 2-hour riff off of D&D 3.x for cryin' out loud.