Doug Jones Reveals Details For Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water

The Shape of Water, Guillermo del Toro's much anticipated follow-up to his fantastic gothic romance Crimson Peak has been shrouded in mystery ever since it was announced last year, with production notes from the beginning of principal photography merely revealing that the project is set against the backdrop of Cold War era America circa 1963.

Now, while speaking to Collider about his new film, the horror/thriller The Bye Bye Man, Doug Jones offered some extensive plot details about The Shape of Water in which he plays a fish-man creature.

"It’s a 1963 drama—it’s not a sci-fi [film], it’s not a genre film, but I am a creature in it. I’m a fish man that’s kind of a one-off. I’m an enigma, nobody knows where I came from; I’m the last of my species so I’m like a natural anomaly. And I’m being studied and tested in a U.S. government facility in 1963, so the Russian Cold War is on, the race for space is on, so there’s all that backdrop and that undercurrent. I’m being tested for how can they use me for advantages in military or space travel, or my technology—can we make this usable for humans? So they’re trying to keep me a secret from the Russians."

To prove that the drama is not primarily a genre film, Jones adds that the center of the film is a love story.

"Meanwhile, there’s a love story that brews out of it, and that would be the cleaning lady played by Sally Hawkins. She comes and finds me, has sympathy on me, and then that’s the story that you’re really gonna follow with this whole backdrop."

This isn't the first time del Toro used significant moments in history as a backdrop for his films. In The Devil's Backbone from 2001, del Toro used the Spanish Civil War to tell the story of 12-year-old boy living in a haunted orphanage, while in Pan's Labyrinth from 2006, the filmmaker choose to use post-Civil War Spain as a backdrop for the Oscar nominated film. And speaking of awards, Jones says that he is expecting similar critical success from The Shape of Water.

"It is artfully and beautifully [made]—if this doesn’t end up with Guillermo back at the Oscars, I will be surprised. I will be very surprised."

Expected to premiere sometime later this year, The Shape of Water also stars Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins, Octavia Spencer, and Michael Stuhlbarg.

Source - Collider

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