Hey folks, Harry here... Guillermo Del Toro's THE SHAPE OF WATER debuted at the Venice Film Festival and the reviews are spectacularly effusive... Hinting at Douglas Sirk as a tonal inspiration, which makes all the sense for a Cold War Fantasy film - but reviewers are calling the film far more relevant in the here and now than yesteryear. Beware of spoilers - many sites are putting things in the headlines of their articles - which is quite uncool, as it is a twist you won't be seeing until December - and is definitely seen in the context of the story he's telling. So watch out.
This scene seems to be the first time that lead actress, Sally Hawkins, who debuted uncredited in STAR WARS EPISODE 1: THE PHANTOM MENACE as an uncredited Villager. Then you saw her with Daniel Craig and Tom Hardy in Matthew Vaughn's debut film LAYER CAKE. Sally's big starring role was in Mike Leigh's HAPPY GO-LUCKY from 2008, where she was absolutely fantastic! If you're an adventurous filmmaker and sought out Mark Romanek's NEVER LET ME GO based upon the brilliant novel by Kazuo Ishiguro adapted by the great Alex Garland. If you check out her filmography she's been doing excellent work in modern JANE EYRE and GREAT EXPECTATIONS, while having rolls in films like GODZILLA & PADDINGTON - but here she's going to a feature role that it already looks like could become a classic in the genre of fantasy. Here's a scene that got released today - perfectly teasing... Not just her character, but Michael Shannon as well.
The film hits December 8th! It can't get here soon enough!
Keep it cool,
Harry
