Guillermo del Toro has long resume that proves he prefers practical effects and physical craftsmanship over computer generated tools and AI. That filmmaking philosophy extends to his latest film, Frankenstein, and it went over quite well with his actors, especially Christoph Waltz.
“CGI is for losers,” the veteran actor declared this afternoon during Frankenstein’s official Venice Film Festival press conference. Waltz was short on words today but made quite an impression — and generated plenty of laughter — as he only spoke twice during the session. First with the aforementioned dig and later, he was asked how he remains hopeful in today’s monstrous times. “I don’t,” he said. And that was that.
Fortunately, for those seeking longer quotes, del Toro and one of his stars, Oscar Isaac, had more to say on the subjects, particularly about the use of effects and the craftsmanship that goes into set building.
“I say, ‘Let’s construct the wardrobe and tailor the sets, and then give them to the actors,’ because sets are wardrobes and wardrobes are sets. Acting is everything. If you tell an actor, ‘look at a ball on a green screen,’ or you put them in a real lab with real windows and real light with real giant batteries, they are reacting to another actor. I always say there is a difference between eye candy, which is pretty, and eye protein, which is telling the story.”
Del Toro’s Frankenstein, which he directed from his own screenplay, centers on Victor Frankenstein, played by Isaac, a brilliant but egotistical scientist who brings a creature (Jacob Elordi) to life in a monstrous experiment that ultimately leads to the undoing of both the creator and his tragic creation.
Isaac said it’s not only that del Toro builds out so much of his sets, it’s the thoughtfulness that goes into construction and production design. “There’s so much symbolism in the way that it’s constructed, where the circles are placed, the archetypal nature of like, for instance, when Victor is in his father’s room again, many years later, everything’s oversized, as if he’s a child again. To have that actually be the experience. It feeds so much more meaning into the performances as well,” he explained.
To be clear, though, del Toro added that he’s not against CGI or other filmmaking tools — he employs many of them — but he prefers to grab them from the kit in the right way. “As a filmmaker, there’s no bad resource. There’s only badly used resources. We have digital effects, but you only do it when the limit of the physical has been not an easy solution. The more experience you have with the tools, the more you know how to do finer work with them.”
Frankenstein premieres tonight, Aug. 30, inside Sala Grande followed by a limited theatrical release on Oct. 17, and a global bow by Netflix on Nov. 7.