“I only want to do animation”- Guillermo del Toro reveals his future filmmaking plans

It is not wrong to put Guillermo del Toro up there with the finest masters of cinema after what the Mexican filmmaker and author has achieved over the last three decades. The director's most recent outing, Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio was proof of what he could achieve with stop-motion animation alone.

The critic-favorite director delved into the adaptation of Pinocchio as a sort of experiment, having never directed an animated film before. But after the film's premiere, it seems that it was more of a pre-destined point in del Toro's career. In a recent master class that del Toro conducted at Annecy Animated Film Festival, the 58-year-old filmmaker revealed that he plans to shift completely to animation in the coming years, much to the shock of the fans and attendees.

"There are a couple more live-action movies I want to do but not many. After that, I only want to do animation. That’s the plan,'' he said.

According to reports, Guillermo del Toro is already working for Netflix on another animated project based on Nobel Prize-winning British writer Kazuo Ishiguro's story, The Buried Giant.

This news is slightly disheartening to the fans who loved del Toro's offbeat horror films that managed to be eerily scary and meaningful at the same time. But the director still has a couple of live-action films to complete before he makes the transition, so the news is not as upsetting as it feels.

---

"Animation to me is the purest form of art"- Guillermo del Toro on his love for animation

The Mexican filmmaker's style was proof enough of his ability to perfect an animated film even before the release of Pinocchio. It seemed like a preset destiny where the art form and the artist would one day meet, and it has happened now.

The veteran director always appreciated the art form of animation but believed that it was being misused. In his masterclass, he emphasized how important animation was and how it could be used for a lot more than it is being used for currently. Guillermo del Toro said in the masterclass:

"Animation to me is the purest form of art, and it’s been kidnapped by a bunch of hoodlums. We have to rescue it. [And] I think that we can Trojan-horse a lot of good sh*t into the animation world."

He also went on to criticize the trend of commercializing animated films to add an absurd layer of emotions or family-friendly themes.

"[commercial animation is] codified into a sort of teenage rom-com, almost emoji-style behavior. [If] I see a character raising his f*cking eyebrow, or crossing his arms, having a sassy pose — oh, I hate that sh*t...[Why] does everything act as if they’re in a sitcom? I think is emotional pornography. All the families are happy and sassy and quick, everyone has a one-liner. Well, my dad was boring. I was boring. Everybody in my family was boring. We had no one-liners....I would love to see real life in animation," he added.

---

Guillermo del Toro will return with his animated film on Netflix very soon. He has also announced plans of making a Frankenstein adaptation, which could be one of his "couple" live-action films.