How Antlers Connects To Del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth

Visionary director Guillermo Del Toro explained at SDCC 2020 that Antlers—which he produced—connects subtly to 2006’s Pan’s Labyrinth.

You Are Reading :How Antlers Connects To Del Toros Pans Labyrinth

During San Diego Comic Con @ Home, visionary director Guillermo del Toro explained an interesting connection between Pan’s Labyrinth and Antlers, which is slated for release in 2021.

Though Del Toro serves as a producer for Antlers, with Scott Cooper directing, a special featurette was revealed during a panel that was part as SDCC 2020 which explained more of the mythos surrounding the movie’s terrifying creature, the wendigo. Not only this, but it revealed itself to be entrenched in the same elements of folk horror and dark fairytales that permeated Del Toro’s 2006 movie, Pan’s Labyrinth. Del Toro’s presence is soundly felt in Antlers, which explores the happenings in an Oregon town where a young boy is thought to be harboring a supernatural creature. While other movies, such as Pet Sematary, have adapted the wendigo myth before, Del Toro and Cooper’s handling of the creature seems to be more focused on the mythology surrounding the creature as well as the focus on Lucas, the boy who is somehow connected to the wendigo.

Originally slated for a 2020 release, Antlers was pushed back to February 19, 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Much of the movie’s greater plot details have been kept tightly under wraps, but Antlers seems poised to continue the larger themes of Del Toro’s horror movies despite being under the purview of another director. Even though Antlers and Pan’s Labyrinth are likely two very different movies, Del Toro made some interesting comments about how they connect.

How Pan’s Labyrinth Connects To Antlers

Though a slightly more simplistic connection, one major element shared by both Antlers and Pan’s Labyrinth is the inclusion of child actors. Cooper and Del Toro spoke to this on the panel, and even went so far as to say that Del Toro cautioned against the use of sets that include both children and monsters, as there’s difficulty in that sort of environment due to the nature of such intensely violent or thematic material affecting the young actors. In Stanley Kubrick’s iconic 1980 film, The Shining, measures were taken to shield actor Danny Lloyd—who played Danny Torrance—from the horrors around him. Del Toro was familiar with the challenges that can be posed by directing children in horror movies, as he worked with Ivan Baquero, who played Ofelia, during Pan’s Labyrinth. Her role was certainly quite mature, and required a lot of up-close interaction with actors who were in heavy make-up and costumes, such as Doug Jones’ portrayal of the Pale Man and Fauno.

Cooper and Del Toro elaborated on how overcoming this particular hurdle can be done simply by treating the actors—and actors of any age—with respect. Cooper also detailed how it was his desire to find a young actor who wasn’t “groomed” by his parents to be a star; he wanted a more natural, authentic performance that reflected the character, and ended up casting Jeremy Thomas, who is very early in his career, as Lucas Weaver. This was a similar decision to what Del Toro made when casting his Ofelia.

Beyond that, Antlers focuses on folklore and cultural traditions, specifically the Native American traditions, for which they sought out a Native consultant to keep a note of authenticity to the film. While Pan’s Labyrinth was more fantastical than Antlers, which seems to be rooted in realism despite its supernatural horror premise, there are similarities in how a child is directly connected to mythical creatures or monsters. Del Toro has spoken openly about how monsters—particularly classic monsters—have influenced his childhood, so the notion that Lucas is possibly connected to or protecting a wendigo somehow or feels a kinship to it can be seen as a parallel to Ofelia’s rich fantasy world in Pan’s Labyrinth, where she escapes the horrors of her real existence.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/antlers-guillermo-del-toro-pans-labyrinth-connection/