In the latest featurette for Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim, the director delves into the details behind his colossal Jaeger structures. We’re given glimpses of the painstaking work that went into creating the designs for the over 270 foot robots, and ensuring that each one had its own unique identity.
Del Toro explains that while his film will not make any direct references or be a complete homage to the anime culture, he was greatly inspired by it. The origins of specific robots like Cherno Alpha and Gypsy Danger are also revealed in the exclusive interviews and behind the scenes footage.
Pacific Rim focuses on the response from humans to the extraterrestrial attacks threatening the world’s future. The Jaegers, which in German translates to ‘hunters,’ are the massive robots that require two pilots each to combat the alien forces. Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba and Charlie Day will be starring. Frequent collaborator of del Toro’s, Ron Perlman, will also be making an appearance. Del Toro will be directing using a script penned by himself and Travis Beacham, who had a hand in writing 2010’s Clash of the Titans.
Del Toro is taking a considerable risk with Pacific Rim. The film reportedly has a budget of $180 million and the anime angle will certainly turn away as many viewers as it will attract. However, it may make the movie popular in the world market. As usual, del Toro is not playing it safe.
Given Guillermo del Toro’s history with masterminding some of the most spectacular visual effects ever seen on the big screen, his work on the Jaegers and otherworldly monsters (the Kaiju) surely will not disappoint. The Academy Award nominee brought us the vivid worlds and creatures in his movies Hellboy, Blade II, and Pan’s Labyrinth (or El Laberinto del Fauno). Although his latest blockbuster has been the victim of early criticism such as the misguided simplification of calling it Transformers vs. Godzilla, del Toro’s nearly spotless track record promises a large scale sci-fi adventure the likes of which we have not yet seen.
Pacific Rim will hit US theaters on July 12th of this year.