Guillermo del toro Details Why He Was So Passionate About Making Justice League Dark

Throughout his entire career, filmmaker Guillermo del Toro has never shied away from embracing dark and disturbing subject matter, ranging from monsters to ghosts to vampires. As proven with films like Blade II and his Hellboy series, del Toro is intrigued by comic book characters, even if they aren’t household names. The filmmaker’s The Shape of Water earned him not only the Best Director Academy Award, but it also won Best Picture, opening up countless opportunities for him. Fans who were hoping he would make a more traditional superhero movie might be disappointed, as he recently detailed why a project like Justice League Dark and its team of monsters is much more appealing to him.

“Well, I co-wrote a whole screenplay on Justice League Dark for Warner Bros., so that’s your answer,” del Toro shared with ComicBook.com about his interest in adapting a new comic book movie. “I love Deadman, I love Demon, I love Swamp Thing…Zatanna. That’s a universe, is one thing. I’m very attracted to that side of the DC Universe.”

He added, “But I’m not a superhero guy. For me to like a superhero, the superhero needs to be a monster. I’m not into those things, I’ve never been. I’m always in favor of monster narratives. That’s what I like. Or, I love noir. I love police, crime dramas. I love science fiction.”

Sadly, this news will likely excite and frustrate fans, as del Toro is clearly passionate about such a project though, if he can’t get it to move forward, it seemingly never will.

While genre enthusiasts have long been a fan of del Toro’s works, thanks to projects like The Devil’s Backbone and Cronos, one of his biggest breaks came with 2006’s Pan’s Labyrinth, which earned the director three Academy Awards. Interestingly, with the opportunity to cash-in on the buzz he earned from the film, his top priority was to develop Hellboy II: The Golden Army, which failed to make an impact on the box office. His next directing efforts, Pacific Rim and Crimson Peak, became hits with fans, yet also fell short of financial expectations.

With Shape of Water earning del Toro an impressive number of achievements, he could seemingly make any project he wanted, though it’s possible there has been too much love lost between him and his Justice League Dark project, likely forcing Warner Bros. to start over from scratch.

Stay tuned for details on the future of the franchise.

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