The Shape of Water is an upcoming movie about the romance between a mute woman named Elisa Esposito and an amphibious humanoid, which is a scenario that should recall a number of horror stories that range from H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Shadow Over Innsmouth” to Universal Pictures’s Creature from the Black Lagoon. Their relationship is complicated by both the U.S. and the Soviet government, who are interested in the secrets that can be extracted from the amphibious humanoid, with the result that the pair are hounded by the cruel Colonel Richard Strickland. As a result, while The Shape of Water has plenty of predecessors, it is interesting it that it covers those similar events from a separate perspective, thus rendering the resulting narrative both fresh and familiar at the same time.
How Long Has Guillermo del Toro Been Planning The Shape of Water?
Given this short description of The Shape of Water, it should come as no surprise to learn that Guillermo del Toro is the creative mind behind the movie, which is something that he has been planning for decades and decades. In fact, it seems probable that one moment in the movie when Elisa feeds hard-boiled eggs to the amphibious humanoid is a reference to Hellboy, which was a comic book series that del Toro brought to the movie screen with both Hellboy and Hellboy 2. After all, Hellboy‘s Ape Sapien was an amphibious humanoid who loved to snack on hard-boiled eggs, which was such a striking character trait that some fans actually thought that The Shape of Water might have been a Hellboy prequel when it was first announced.
Regardless, while del Toro had been interested in making something like The Shape of Water for decades and decades, the exact concept of the movie came together over time. For example, the concept of a janitor who falls in love with a creature imprisoned in a secret government facility came from having breakfast with Daniel Kraus, which fascinated del Toro so much that he decided to buy the idea on the spot. After which, del Toro started jotting down notes, drawing up sketches, and otherwise creating a plan for the eventual movie that he was able to bring to Fox Searchlight, which decided to go ahead with it.
Furthermore, it is interesting to note that del Toro wrote the roles for specific actors, who he chose for specific reasons. For example, he went with Sally Hawkins for Elisa Esposito because he thought that she had authenticity as well as an interesting face that was beautiful but nonetheless normal. Meanwhile, he chose Michael Shannon to play Richard Strickland because he needed the actor to be capable of showing humanity in occasional moment but at the same time, be capable of exuding a serious sense of menace. Likewise, it should come as no surprise to learn that the other actors were chosen with care and consideration, with examples ranging from Doug Jones as the amphibious humanoid to Octavia Spencer as Zelda Fuller, who helps Elisa conceal her love interest.
For those who are interested, The Shape of Water had a limited release in two NYC movie theaters on December 1 but has since been released throughout the United States on December 8. As a result, those who are curious about del Toro’s latest work should have no problems finding a place that shows it.
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