It’s a funny thing when a director states their distaste for the 3D element find in so many of today’s films, because I’ve never heard anyone, with one exception, say that they want to have their film in 3D. So it was with Guillermo Del Toro, who ardently stressed that his upcoming Pacific Rim would not be converted to 3D, simultaneously sticking it to the man and once again demonstrating just how awesome he is. Well, sometimes the man strikes back and such is the case with Warner Bros. studios who have blatantly told us (and Del Toro) that the film will go through post-conversion 3D. Not the best news in the world, to be sure, but this is still Guillermo Del Toro we’re talking about here! He doesn’t just let studios push him around! In an interview with STYD, the jovial director elaborated a bit on the agreement he has with Warner Bros. in regards to the conversion, and that there are specific instructions that will be followed:
“What happened was, in the weeks and months following Comic-Con, what I asked from the studio was to agree to four points that I wanted to do. The more the ILM shots arrived, the more I realized that there were only a few shots that would miniaturize. I asked the studio, number one, that we would not hyper-stereo-lize the thing. That we would not force 3D on the beauty shots. That we would keep the giant dimensions. They agreed. Number two, they agreed to something very unusual. Normally a conversion takes a few weeks. I asked to start it immediately so we could take the full 40 weeks to do the conversion. As an example, Titanic took about 50 weeks to convert. The final thing that I asked that they agreed to, which was amazing, was that I asked them to give me an extra budget, which is considerable, to actually have ILM composite the shots that are CG native 3D. We’re not giving elements. ILM is giving the composite in 3D from the get-go. That’s a huge, huge element. Now I’m going to be involved in supervising it. What can I tell you? I changed my mind. I’m not running for office. I can do a Romney.”
Does that help ease your mind? I’m not particularly a fan of 3D, especially when it’s tacked on as an afterthought, but Del Toro’s integrity as a director and his hands on approach to every aspect of his films gives me a bit of confidence, at least in this particular case. Of course, if you really hate 3D, you’ll still be able to see the film as was originally intended when it releases July of next year.
[via Collider, STYD]
