Guillermo del Toro is one of our greatest living film directors. I don’t think that’s a particularly hot take. However, just because he’s great doesn’t mean that he is perfect or cannot take criticism. In fact, it turns out he knows just who to call to help make his movies ever better: all the other greatest living directors.
Speaking with Variety, del Toro was asked how he handled the final cut of his films, or if making some of the film’s edits was difficult for him. Oftentimes, editing decisions come from the response of test audiences, but the Frankenstein director revealed that he doesn’t test his movies. Instead, he shows his films to his friends. As he put it:
Because we don’t test the movies, I show it to the 14, 16 most brilliant friends I know, and I’m blessed with good friendships…
One might think that you’d only hear what you want if you show your movie to your friends. However, in this case, Guillermo del Toro’s “friends” are other great directors. Del Toro’s friendship with James Cameron is well known, and there has been discussion of the “Secret Film Club” before, though it’s apparently bigger than we thought. It also turns out that a particular part of Frankenstein is missing on the word of the Avatar filmmaker. Del Toro explained…
They’re in the credits. [Laughs] But Alfonso Cuarón, Alejandro Iñárritu, Jim Cameron, Rian Johnson, Steven [Spielberg]. A lot of people see the movie, and they tell me what they think. And we have the agreement to be brutal. Jim came in, and he said, ‘Look, there’s this section…’ which isn’t in the movie anymore, ‘This is beautiful, but you gotta take it out.’ And it was about seven minutes.
I already wanted to be Guillermo del Toro’s friend, but now that desire has exploded because sitting in a room full of some of the greatest filmmakers ever and hearing them debate the finer points of their own films sounds like absolute heaven. The fact that these men are allowed to be brutal with each other’s work, but can be professional about it isn’t easy, but it must lead to incredible conversations about filmmaking.
Apparently all James Cameron had to say was that a few minutes of the Frankenstein story didn’t work or weren’t necessary, and the seven minutes of film, which was still beautiful, were gone. While I certainly want to know more about these seven minutes, I also can’t argue that Frankenstein ever felt like anything was missing.
Guillermo del Toro says he doesn’t second-guess his friends. When they tell him to do something with a movie, he does it. He figures if he’s going to ask the question, he needs to listen to the answer. The director said…
When somebody gives me a note that is in that circle, I do it. I don’t argue…. You cannot invite people you trust and then not trust them. You can undo it very easily.
Considering that all of these directors combined have made far more great movies than poor ones, and there are plenty of Oscars between them to prove it, it seems this process of working together to improve their work really accomplishes its goals.