Posted on 01/22/2009 12:11:45 PM PST by AuntB
Mexican super director Guillermo Del Toro, auteur of such hits as Hellboy and Pan's Labyrinth, might be a proud member of Los Tres Amigos crew of south of the border filmmakers, but his sentiments about returning to his native land are mixed. Del Toro, who lives between New Zealand and Los Angeles, says he's basically an involuntary exile, as he fears for his safety in Mexico. Reports The New York Daily News:
"Hellboy" director Guillermo del Toro says he is unlikely to make another film in Mexico because his father's kidnapping 10 years ago left him fearing for his safety, a newspaper has reported.
Del Toro's father was eventually released, but the family says it later received death threats.
Del Toro, who is best known for directing the "HellBoy" movies and "Pan's Labyrinth," said he doesn't feel safe directing films here because his daily routine becomes public.
"Not all of the people who participated in the kidnapping were captured," El Universal newspaper on Thursday quoted him as saying.
He described his situation as a "forced exile" and said it saddens him to think he may never film again on Mexican streets.
If Del Toro sounds a bit paranoid to you, perhaps his explanation of the risks he feels he runs will put it into perspective. El Informador newspaper quotes him as saying:
"To return to Mexico would mean to become vulnerable to a kidnapping, as my routine is the same day after day, and everything I do is reported on, and these people will know what thime and where I'm picked up and where I'm going to be throughout the whole day."
1219958680753guillermo-del-toro-apdn.jpgDel Toro says that after the kidnapping, there was no truce between his family and the criminals, and that he received numerous threats for a long time after. When reporters at a recent press conference in his country questioned whether this were the real reason he didn't want to go back to Mexico (typical Mexican reporter question, as they consider those who make it abroad "sellouts"), El Informador says that Del Toro's face changed and he got serious
"It doesn't just hurt me not to return to Mexico. This isn't the fear that a movie like Godzilla can make you feel. This is real terror...I feel like an amputee, because it doesn't matter how well I do in life, I feel incomplete because I don't just miss filming in Mexico but I need it to feel complete."
Del Toro went on to say that if it were up to him he'd be back in Mexico right away, but he's got his wife and kid to think about and for that reason "returning would be impossible".
How very sad. You can't blame him for looking out for his family. But at the same time being there would do so much for the Mexican film industry
Anyone with half a brain would leave Mexico. It would be better if they took up arms against the Narco-traffickers though
Del Torro was another Bush-hater.
Maybe he should be a little more concerned with HIS OWN COUNTRY, and stop bitching about ours.
So will we see his work reflect the safety he feels in this great country and condeming the decades of corruption,amorality,greed and excuses given by the leadership of his homeland and silent acclamation by the Mexican people. I think not.Hope I am wrong but I just have the feeling that his politics side with Hollywood gliteratti and their blanket hedonism and moral bankruptcy
A high percentage of Latin American stars maintain residences in the US, mostly Miami and Los Angeles. This is partly because they can, but I believe security concerns are front and center. Kidnapping is rampant in several countries but primarily Mexico and Colombia; others are not far behind. Some of the biggest names in Latin American cinema and music are American residents and often secretly US citizens.
Others maintain homes in Spain but for pretty much the same reasons.
Del Toro is a good actor, regardless of his political opinions. But Mexico, thanks to the actions of the left, is one of the top two contenders in the NGO lists of possible “failed states” for this year.
Bambi is going to make it worse, because he is both a leftist and very pro-drugs and the big problem is that the left and the drug dealers are hand in glove in Mexico. Calderon is trying to do everything he can, but he is working within the law and therefore is at a disadvantage. He has to keep working within the law, but Mexico needs the same help that Colombia got under Bush.
I think Bush would have helped Mexico and it might be more functional now, but many Americans (particularly Freepers) hate Mexico and many Mexicans hate the US, so I think he and Calderon were both in a no-win position. And now we have somebody in charge who loves Marxism, hates Catholicism, obviously has no objection to drugs, has no moral standards - and whose party is in control of both houses.
Expect Mexico to be overrun soon. There are great, dedicated Mexicans who don’t want this, but the forces aligned against them are very, very strong. And now one of them is the US.
Oh cry me a river. If he were a proud mexican, he could’ve went back to mexico and showed that he was there for change. And I do believe that Hellboy 2 was unneccessary crap that should not have been filmed in the 1st place.
—If anyone can check out Pan’s Labyrinth credits and poster, Doug Jones was the only non-Hispanic on the cast & crew.
Mexico’s destiny is to be America’s Gaza.
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