The Devils Backbonehits shelves Nov. 28.
In this manner, we are all haunted.
In the early 1990s, after doingCronos, I found myself in a bit of a limbo.
Credit: Elisabetta A. Villa/WireImage
It was a limbo I am now quite familiar with.
The fact is, every premise I am attracted to has an inherent risk of failure.
I often find myself wondering why I cannot choose an easier path.
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But I guess I cannot.
Its in my nature.
I am one with my vices and I believe that, well regarded, our vices render our virtues.
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The Devils Backbonewas, originally, a horror tale set against the Mexican revolution.
We were denied any official funding or support.
Then Pedro Almodovar saved me.
How did he do it?
Where did it happen?
Youll have to read on .
That story and many more are chronicled in the book you have in your hands.
The second greatest ghost engine is, in my opinion, memory.
It is human cruelty.
I wanted to make the personalities of the children in the tale as real as possible.
I wanted to avoid the notions of innocence and embrace purity and solidarity.
This ambition/budget imbalance has been a constant in my quarter-of-a-century career.
I have tried to be as candid as possible in the interview that constitutes the backbone of this book.
I tried to keep the truth unadorned and unvarnished by nostalgia.
The Devils Backbone, however, was also one of the most pleasant shoots Ive ever had.
I needed it so much.
After going through a nightmarish shoot on Mimic, I felt that Hollywood filmmaking was not to be.
I was entering this new process full of fear and worry.
And then, it all changed.
I need to have final cut, of course, I said.
What is a final cut?
His eyes widened and he looked around confused, But, of course, the decision is yours!
And that started me off on a joyful, enraptured creative experience.
The movie healed all my woundsmade me whole again.
I am as grateful as Ive ever been to Pedro.
They are mirrored movies, which reveal symmetries and reflections if you ever watch them together .
and I love them both with equal passion.
So, a film about ghosts cleared all ghosts from my past.
A film about loss gave me life again.
A story of orphans gave me a filmmaking family.
It is a worthy boys adventure and a small fable full of melancholy.
This film is full of love and worthy of love.
I do hope youll agree.
GUILLERMO DEL TORO
Toronto, Summer 2017
