According to Deadline, the Oscar winning filmmaker used a public conversation at the British Film Institute to unveil new details about his upcoming adaptation of “The Buried Giant,” describing the Netflix production as a stop-motion feature aimed squarely at adults rather than families.
Guillermo del Toro Is Returning to Stop-Motion With a Darker Fantasy Vision
The announcement arrived during a celebratory week for del Toro, who was awarded a BFI Fellowship, the institution’s highest honor recognizing achievement in cinema. While reflecting on his career during an onstage discussion with BFI executive and film historian Jason Wood, the director also opened the door to what comes after last year’s “Frankenstein.”
His next feature will adapt Kazuo Ishiguro’s acclaimed 2015 fantasy novel, a story centered on an elderly couple wandering through a mythic post-Arthurian Britain where memory itself has begun to disappear. Del Toro characterized the production as a “fascinatingly difficult stop-motion movie for adults,” adding that the picture is being made “without any concession to a family audience.”
Del Toro acknowledged the scale of the challenge, stating that the film will likely take years to complete because of the painstaking nature of the medium. Even so, the project arrives at a moment when the director’s standing in the industry is arguably stronger than ever, with restoration work on “Pan’s Labyrinth” set for Cannes and a steady stream of accolades recognizing one of modern fantasy cinema’s most distinctive voices.