Interview (Video): Guillermo del Toro and Mike Flanagan

A conversation between two masters of the horror genre.

Netflix brought together two filmmakers for a conversation about the horror genre: Guillermo del Toro whose screenwriting credits include Hellboy, Pan’s Labyrinth, Pacific Rim, The Shape of Water, Nightmare Alley, and Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio. And Mike Flanagan whose screenwriting credits include the movies Hush and Doctor Sleep, and the TV series The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, and Midnight Mass.

Here is the video:

Some choice quotes:

Guillermo del Toro: “Horror is a shrine to imperfection and tells you it’s okay to be a monster. We are all monsters. At the end of the day, can we live with that?”

Mike Flanagan: “One of the things I think is so interesting about horror is it can be such an effective mirror. And force us to have that end of life moment early and in a controlled safe space where we can start to really look at uncomfortable truths about who we are.”

Guillermo del Toro: “I believe that there’s a simple rule I found to be truth after fifty-eight years in this world: Hatred and fear are mirrors. Love is windows. Every time you hate somebody, it’s a mirror for them. Your fear of somebody is a mirror. When you love somebody, they’re a window to an entire world you don’t know. Like you meet somebody and if you view people as a window, you can give them that license. You pour yourself into that and everything is eradicated. The differences which are all illusions, right? So horror allows you to recognize you.”

You may read the entire interview here.

Here is a trailer for the upcoming Netflix series Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities:

Here is the trailer for the current Netflix series The Midnight Club created by Mike Flanagan:

For 100s more interviews with screenwriters and filmmakers, go here.