Guillermo Del Toro has officially exited Justice League Dark (sniff) in order to direct the sequel to his juggernaut monster flick from 2013. Pacific Rim 2 starts shooting later this year, with much of the cast reprising their roles - well, those who survived - including leading man Charlie Hunnam. In a recent interview with EW, he addressed some of the pitfalls of starring in a big-budget blockbuster with CGI co-stars.
“When it becomes very technical, those technical aspects create a rigidity to the process,” he said. “Then all of the sudden, you have to find where your little place to fit into that process is, as opposed to the whole thing being about you.”
“I think world creation and monster creation and all of that stuff is exciting as a secondary element of storytelling," he adds. "When it becomes more important than storytelling, I get very nervous, and you sort of lose me a little bit. Although we tried very hard on Pacific Rim to marry those two elements, I do feel like ultimately it got weighed heavier on the side of spectacle than storytelling... I do feel like we could have maybe plumbed the depths of the character and the storytelling a little bit more.”
That's a refreshing opinion to hear voiced by the top-billed star in a studio sequel, even accounting for the fact that a movie revolving around gigantic monsters emerging from a glittery void in the ocean is, by its imaginative nature, going to require loads of CGI. Still, some of the characters were a tad shallow. Here's hoping Hunnam gets his wish. Pacific Rim 2 opens August 4, 2017.
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