There are many places in which Guillermo del Toro’s expertise shines. Whether it be with science fiction or something with a layer of gore in it, if the filmmaker has a hand in a project’s making, there is no doubt that it is going to be splendid. It is not just that he has the liberty of genres but also of mediums.
The filmmaker has shown his artistic prowess through live-action films, Hellboy films and then some. He has also proved time and again that animation as a stylistic choice only opens more doors for him. However, his influence from anime is where things get more interesting. Del Toro’s Pacific Rim drew inspiration from Neon Genesis Evangelion. So it is clear that his love for anime was integral to his growth.
Guillermo del Toro’s Hope for a Live-Action Monster Crushed
Live-action animes are hard to come by. They are approved after great difficulty and then their success depends on factors that can fluctuate at the speed of light. On one hand, stands the success of One Piece but on another the failure of Cowboy Bebop. These two appear as the two poles of live-action anime adaptations.
No, it’s out of HBO, and now we’re going to take it to other places but it’s not active active until we pitch it.
Guillermo del Toro had also been planning his own live-action adaptation of Monster at one point. He was more than hopeful about the project and had even gone ahead in pitching it to HBO. The idea had been concrete in his mind and he wanted so badly to let it come to fruition.
What had started off as a simple idea turned into a couple of drafts of episodes but as fate would have it, the idea was to remain just that and nothing more. As shared by Crunchyroll, he did go to HBO to pitch the idea but nothing came of it.
Never to Lose Hope but at What Cost?
Although it has been more than a decade since the idea was pitched, Guillermo del Toro did say that he would do everything in his power to get the live-action adaptation of Monster picked up in one way or another. If HBO wasn’t to take it, he would just find another distributor instead. The filmmaker also added that although it was just an idea at first, things escalated quickly.
We are going to other companies to pitch it and see if anyone wants to do it. We finished writing a couple of the episodes, and so we have a sampler. We’re going to go and see what happens with that, but very likely that will happen somewhere next year.
Guillermo del Toro added back then that he would go on till there was at least some hope. Unfortunately, that was said over a decade ago. Now the idea of a live-action adaptation may look less likely seeing how long ago the idea was made but it could be farther from the truth.
Times have changed drastically over the decade. What the value of anime was back then is nothing compared to what it is now. Successful adaptations such as One Piece and Yu Yu Hakusho further bring forth a promising idea of the fact that live-action anime adaptations do work.
Monster is available to watch on Netflix.
