A movie likeCrimson Peakis a hard sell as far as production studios are concerned. Despite films likeThe Conjuringexperiencing a box office resurrection, the ‘ghost story’ tag is too simplistic and clear-cut to apply to such an elaborate and intricate film.
However, like the film’s protagonist Edith (Mia Wasikowska), Crimson Peak is a story that Mexican-born director Guillermo del Toro has carried with him for years. Yes, it may contain truly horrific elements, but its origins lie in the gothic romances that ignited Del Toro’s passions as a child: Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre.
“It’s a strange genre, because it’s caught between love and death,” says Del Toro. “It’s really not quite a horror genre but not quite a romantic genre. It’s sort of a nostalgic, creepy kind of love story, and I wanted to do one because it’s been decades, many decades, since Hollywood tackled the genre with any scope.
“I wanted to make an old-fashioned, really lavish movie but still have really creepy moments, and a couple of scares – but ultimately a very human story.”
It’s a pitch that could well describe most of Del Toro’s creations, ranging from early horror efforts like Cronos and Mimic to the immaculate, Oscar-winning Pan’s Labyrinth, as well as Hollywood blockbusters Hellboy, Blade II and Pacific Rim. Originally a special effects and make-up designer, Del Toro’s trademark visual spectacle finds an ideal home in Crimson Peak, a tale that demands bold, striking colours and extravagant architecture to create its classic atmosphere.
“The gothic romance require[s] the actors and the story to be a little bit on the hyperdrive,” he says. “You have to be a little overwrought, and I would say a little melodramatic in the tone. I knew that I wanted to be a little operatic in order to make the movie feel of a piece. I tried to use the visuals as images that are telling you the story.
“I jokingly say, instead of eye candy, I am fabricating eye protein.”
It’s an appropriate analogy, given the obsession with ophthalmology on display in the film. Not only do the film’s transitions often sink into the eyes of the characters, but the house setting itself was designed by Del Toro, with round, eye-like windows leering in on its inhabitants.
“It was important to underline the theme of capacity to see,” he explains. “Edith lives in a very modern America, but she can see something as ancient as ghosts, and Thomas [Tom Hiddleston] lives in an ancient land but he can see the future in his machine. So they are both outcasts, and they find each other in the story, and they ultimately fall in love.”
Though Edith and Thomas’ romance is the heart of the story, it is counterpointed with moments of stomach-turning violence, reminiscent of the dance between fairytale and war story that made Pan’s Labyrinth so potent. This, Del Toro says, is all courtesy of the penny dreadfuls that inspired him in his continuing search for “terrible beauty”. “When they were at the height of their popularity in the 1800s, they were novels that contained very lurid and titillating moments of sex and violence. And obviously, by our standards, those novels are now very quaint, but back then, people were shocked,” he says with a chuckle.
“I wanted to stimulate the same sort of sensory centres in people watching the movie. I needed to shock them a little bit with the violence and make sure the sex was not exploited in a gratuitous way, but it was strong enough to make it into an adult movie.”
A film that is both romantic and unsettling, arousing and shocking in equal measure is a challenging proposition. But Del Toro has spent his entire career in the realm of the impossible, and cares only for the freedom to create.
“A lot of people are gonna tell you, ‘Go where the budget is’; I’m gonna tell you, ‘Go where the freedom is,’” he says, his voice loaded with passion. “I can tell you I have complete freedom on Crimson Peak, but you know, if the budgets were $20 million, $30 million more, I would lose that freedom.
“What you should always protect as a filmmaker is your freedom. And if you are young and starting, I would advise: put everything you can on your first movie, and be ready to sort of die for it, because you should not think any further than that. If you die of a heart attack or you never finance another movie, let the one movie you make contain everything you can, you know?”
Sadly, Del Toro’s own projects are themselves caught between love and death. In the last decade, many of his most beloved projects have languished in pre-production purgatory, failing to acquire either the funds or Del Toro’s vital freedom. The Lovecraftian At The Mountains Of Madness; trilogy closer Hellboy III; the hugely anticipated game Silent Hills – all have suffered the same fate. It has led Del Toro to a rather pessimistic view of his career.
“I’m always at the mercy of strangers, you know? I’m always out with my tin cup asking for financing for the movies, and it’s always really hard,” he says.
As such, we will not be hearing much about Del Toro’s next project, a film “of the same size as Pan’s Labyrinth”, until it hits the big screen. “I have found with horrifying result that every time I talk about a project, it falls apart,” he laughs. “So I’m gonna keep it quiet in the hopes that it happens.”
Crimson Peak is in cinemas Thursday October 15.
