Alejandro G. Iñárritu Writes a Love Letter to ‘The Shape of Water’: ‘It’s A Miracle It Exists’
Zack Sharf
Guillermo del Toro may be Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu’s friend, but he’s also a fellow filmmaker the “Birdman” director admires with great respect. Iñárritu recently participated in Variety’s Directors on Directors series, where he was given the opportunity to write a lengthy love letter to “The Shape of Water.” According to the two-time Oscar winner, Del Toro has made a miracle of a movie that is easily his best so far.
“Many years ago, Guillermo told me with his open, giant, sparkling eyes, about an idea that was circling around his head for his next film: The love story between a mute woman and a fish man,” Iñárritu writes. “That idea could not only occur to Guillermo del Toro, but also only an artist like himself would be capable of carrying it out. And for that same reason, aside from getting really excited about his idea, I knew that it would be his best film.”
Iñárritu says “The Shape of Water” is an example of a type of film that could only exist if it was created and directed by del Toro. He remembers del Toro once telling him that he felt like the fish man, who is a stranger and a monster to the world when he is not in the water.
“‘Shape of Water’ is a love letter to love,” Iñárritu writes. “And a love declaration for cinema. And Guillermo changed the paradigm of the monster tale because no monster or princess has to change. The only real transformation comes from within, by loving and accepting each other as they are…Like some of the literature from Haruki Murakami, Guillermo del Toro’s ‘Shape of Water’ is a delight of fantasy and a miracle it exists in our reality.”
Iñárritu was last on the big screen with “The Revenant,” which won him his second Best Director Oscar. Starz dropped his television series “The One Percent” in March, but the director still plans on finding a home for it in the future. Head over to Variety to read full post on “The Shape of Water.”
