Guillermo del Toro's "The Shape of Water" emerged as an early awards season favorite after it bowed at the Venice Film Festival in early September and scooped up the fest's top prize. A whirlwind festival tour followed, and the film has performed exceptionally well over two weekends in limited release (it's expected to go wider over Christmas).
With seven nominations total, the movie led Monday morning's Golden Globes announcements on the film side with Del Toro earning two personal nods for best director and best screenplay (co-written with Vanessa Taylor). Although his acclaimed "Pan's Labyrinth" had been nominated for foreign film, these are Del Toro's first Globe nominations. And we don't expect them to be the last of Hollywood's award season.
Q: Were you up for the nomination?
A: I was asleep. Gary Unger my manager said, "I'll wake you." We've been campaigning very hard and I've been in every city everywhere and said, "Wake me up with the news." And the phone started ringing with messages and I couldn't find my glasses, so I was holding my iPhone like a millimeter away from my nose to read them. And one piece of good news would arrive, I'd go back to sleep and two minutes later another piece of news came through. Finally I woke up, I found my glasses and now I'm here.
Q: Is it exciting for you that the movie got so many nominations, that Sally [Hawkins], Octavia [Spencer] and Richard Jenkins were all recognized?
A: I love them, so I'm grateful and I'm humbled because I've been doing this for a quarter of a century and you know two things, it doesn't happen every time and you didn't do it alone. You did it with a wonderful cast and crew who are not just a figure of speech or turn of phrase, it's an elemental sense of family and gratitude. A quarter of a century will give you that much perspective.
Q: The HFPA is an international group and the movie was made by an international cast and crew. Was it meaningful to make the movie with such an international group?
A: Yes. In many ways what makes us bond together, is that many of us, for different reasons, ethnicity, geography, beliefs, whatever, we have come together and a lot of us have experienced being quote-unquote the other in our life. We all have different points of view and different experiences but we all shared that commitment to the empathy that is celebrated in the movie. The movie is a celebration of cinema and a celebration of love in any form. Not only romantic love, but brotherly, friendly, empathy, solidarity, all that was very meaningful and I think it resonated with the Hollywood foreign press in the same way.
Q: Is that what's resonating with audiences as well?
A: Incredibly so. As you may have seen, whether I got out to one of the festivals or I go to one of the screenings in commercial venues over the past couple of weeks, its very gratifying to see, a) a packed house and b) a reaction that is emotional. I wanted to make this movie, from the beginning, like a song that you listen to on the radio when you're driving. You kind of leave the theater humming the movie.
Q: Is it meaningful for you to get your first personal nominations as well?
A: I feel it is very hard to say how grateful I am, without having to resort to words that are insufficient. But I'll put it this way. I've been doing this for 25 years and I've been faithful to myself. I come from a provincial city in Mexico, and to read the names I am being cited alongside of brings me great emotion and gratitude. These are names that represent the best of our craft and it is very moving for me.
Q: People on social media are talking about diversity among the nominees. This morning on Twitter you were included in a list of diverse nominees and some people responded that you're white. How do you identify?
A: I'm Mexican. I think that it's an impossibility to not be. When you are Mexican, it is at the very root of your soul. and I think the combination of these stories, the combination of the ordinary and the extraordinary is at the root of being Mexican. I know it because I'm 53 years old and I have many times gone through customs and immigration as if I was in "Midnight Express."
