Guillermo Del Toro Travels To Japan, Geeks Out Over Giant Gundam [Video]
From the archive: published Aug 13, 2013, 13 years ago. Details may have changed since.
Even if you’re not a huge pulsating fan of Guillermo del Toro’s movies, you have to admire the guy’s ability to tap into his inner child.
In order to promote his robots vs. monsters flick Pacific Rim in Japan, the acclaimed director made the journey all the way to the homeland of Kaiju. Del Toro joined stars Rinko Kikuchi and Ashida Mana on a television program that took the trio to Odaiba.
Although the director’s appearance on the TV show wholly unremarkable — he does show off the notebook containing early ideas — it’s his reaction to seeing a life-size Gundam that makes it all worthwhile.
Guillermo del Toro has been described by his actors as a man who still retains a child-like imagination. It’s clear that the Pacific Rim director is still a kid at heart when you see him completely geek out over a giant robot.
Unfortunately, Pacific Rim failed to find at foothold at the Japanese box office over the weekend. While the film borrows heavily from the country’s cinematic output, apparently interest in the flick wasn’t running that high.
According to Screen Rant, the sci-fi movie only managed to generate around $3 million last weekend. Many folks assumed that the film would play well in this market. Sadly, it was beaten by four other movies including World War Z.
Despite the film’s rocky box office performance in Japan and North America, Pacific Rim has earned approximately $344 million around the world. Hopefully this will be enough scratch to convince Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures to move forward with a sequel.
When you’re ready, check out the video of the director’s classic geek moment below. The money shot arrives at around the three minute mark.
Are you a fan of Guillermo del Toro? What do you think about the filmmaker’s reaction to seeing a giant Gundam in Japan?