Including how A GIANT ROBOT used AN OIL TANKER as A BASEBALL BAT.
Guillermo del Toro speaks at the Pacific Rim panel at Comic-Con on Saturday, July 14, 2012 in San Diego, Calif.
Image by The Associated Press / AP
ANAHEIM, California — There are few people who can hold court at a fan convention better than Guillermo Del Toro. The adorably geeky filmmaker unleashed a bunch of new footage from his summer giant-robots-versus-giant-aliens flick Pacific Rim at WonderCon Anaheim (i.e. the baby bear cousin of July's monstrous San Diego ComicCon). And to say the crowd enjoyed what Del Toro had to offer is a bit like saying a crowd the Meadowlands would be happy to see Bruce Springsteen.
Between the trailer — which Del Toro said he cut especially for WonderCon — and Del Toro's subsequent Q&A with HitFix's Drew McWeeny, the panel illuminated a few nifty new things about the film, and what else is cooking inside Del Toro's fertile noggin.
Del Toro avoided green screens whenever possible.
Rather than rely entirely on CGI, Del Toro says that he strove to build as many sets as he could, including the four-story tall cockpit for the movie's giant robots (or "jaegers"). "We built several blocks of Hong Kong — to destroy," he explained. "And then we destroyed them."
Image by Warner Bros.
Charlie Day has the Jeff Goldblum role.
Which is to say, the It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia star plays the part of the uncommonly attractive scientist who warns the larger military-industrial complex that they just don't know what they're dealing with. "If you want to stop them," Day said in the trailer of the giant, rampaging alien monsters (i.e. kaiju), "you have to understand them!"
Del Toro said he's been a longtime fan of Day — he called out Day's rat killing speech from Sunny — and was thrilled to give him a real showcase role to spread his wings. "Charlie Day throughout the movie looks like Rick Moranis, JJ Abrams, [and] the short brother of Bradley Cooper," said the director, clearly meaning all those things as compliments.
Image by Frazer Harrison / Getty Images
