Guillermo Del Toro Gave Taylor Swift His Biggest Inspiration
Guillermo Del Toro was recently honored at the Museum of Modern Art, where the accomplished director responded to a recent Taylor Swift interview in which the singer praised the director. W Magazine reports that the admiration goes both ways, with Del Toro returning the compliments, “She’s a very accomplished director, she’s incredibly articulate and deep about what she’s trying to do — and what she will do.”
The Pinocchio director continued, “I greatly admire her; we had one of the most stimulating and gratifying conversations. We have many, many common interests.” Amazingly, what Guillermo Del Toro and Taylor Swift have in common is a love of fairy tales, fables, and myths. Del Toro’s interest in the subject is well known, with many of his best work drawing inspiration from fables and myths.
Inspiration for one of Guillermo Del Toro’s greatest films, Pan’s Labyrinth, is now in the hands of Taylor Swift. The Hellboy director said on the red carpet, “So I gave her a few books that I thought would be interesting for her—among them, very importantly, a book that was useful for me in creating Pan’s Labyrinth called The Science of Fairy Tales, which codifies and talks about fairy tale.” The Mexican director’s most recent fairy tale film, Pinocchio, has been receiving near universal praise from critics and audiences alike.
While Taylor Swift was not in attendance at the event honoring Guillermo Del Toro, the star’s praise continued to be echoed by other celebrities in attendance. Chloe Sevigny shared on the red carpet that Pan’s Labyrinth was the first film of his that she saw, and remained her favorite. Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard was honored to be asked to play a part in Pinocchio for Del Toro, bringing Candlestick to life on the big screen.
Jessica Chastain, star of Guillermo Del Toro’s 2015 film Crimson Peak, took to the stage to honor the visionary director, sharing some stage direction he provided her, “He told me to fill myself up with as much loathing and hatred as possible and just see what happens.” After the scene, Del toro “He calls cut, and runs over to me, and he, in the sweetest voice and the happiest smile yells, with a childlike glee: ‘You made my balls crawl up into my body!’ While other stars shared similar pleasant experiences of working with the director, Taylor Swift has been busy following in his footsteps.
With praise coming from Guillermo Del Toro, and also the critics, Taylor Swift’s first directorial short, the Sadie Sink-starring All Too Well, is adding a new dimension to the accomplished singer-songwriter. Searchlight Pictures, the studio behind Del Toro’s award-winning The Shape of Water, has signed on to help produce the singer’s first feature film directorial debut, which will be written by Swift herself.
Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio is out now, streaming exclusively on Netflix. Meanwhile, Taylor Swift will be embarking on a record-setting tour, which has already resulted in fans demanding Congress take action against Ticketmaster due to the difficulty in purchasing tickets. The tour kicks off in Glendale Arizona on March 17th, 2023 in State Farm Stadium.
