In an original installment of El Rey Network Presents: The Director’s Chair, premiering Wednesday, July 30 at 9 p.m. ET/PT, El Rey Network Founder and Chairman, Robert Rodriguez interviews Oscar®-nominated director Guillermo del Toro. Del Toro opens up to his longtime friend about his journey from artist to director/producer. From groundbreaking Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy, Mimic and Pacific Rim to his new series, The Strain, Del Toro reveals the madness behind his monsters. Sound bites from the interview below:
“I’m a terrible businessman. I never made any money from ‘Pan's Labyrinth’. It made over a hundred something million. Nothing came to us, because we all went at it as almost like a little quest.”
“Rather than welding myself to the world, I thought if I could weld the world to understand what I want to do, then you’re like a donkey, you’re like a stubborn working animal and you keep going and going and going until one day you realize it’s happening.”
“('Pan’s Labyrinth') was the second most difficult shoot I’ve ever had-almost as difficult as ‘Mimic,’ for very different reasons. But it was a movie where three or four times, very dear people, very reasonable people, people very close to me said ‘Give up. You’re a stubborn moron. Give it up. No one wants to make the movie.’”
“‘Mimic’ almost destroyed me.
I went three years without being able to lift another movie off the ground.”
El Rey Network Presents: The Director’s Chair is a series of hour-long specials featuring the industry's most cutting edge directors as they engage in a revealing and unexpected exchange about the world of filmmaking. The series provides access to one-on-one interviews between Rodriguez and some of cinema’s most iconic filmmakers.
In August, Rodriguez explores the world of cinema with frequent collaborator Quentin Tarantino. Airing in two installments (Vol. 1 premieres Wednesday, August 13, 9 p.m. ET/PT; Vol. 2 on Wednesday, August 27, 9 p.m. ET/PT, the two discuss Tarantino’s film career through the lens of their 20-year friendship, using never-before-seen personal footage to discuss topics from screenwriting and camera placement to Spaghetti Westerns and Kung Fu.
El Rey Network Presents: The Director’s Chair is produced by Troublemaker Studios and Skip Film in association with FactoryMade Ventures. Executive producers are Robert Rodriguez, Skip Chaisson, John Fogelman and Cristina Patwa.
