Guillermo del Toro has always had one foot in reality, and the other in the fantastical. Yet for one of the potential films he's developing as his Crimson Peak follow-up,he's going somewhere he's never gone before: Cold War America.
New reports have landed that del Toro's current mystery project, which is being developed under the watchful eyes of Fox Searchlight, is going to center around an "otherworldly romance" in 1963 America. Variety also reports that the as of yet untitled film has courted Academy Award winner Octavia Spencer as one of the leads, with the film set to start shooting sometime this summer. Most importantly, even with the variety of projects available to Guillermo del Toro at this moment, this untitled project is being hinted as being the highest priority out of all of them.
While this mystery Guillermo del Toro film is still without a title, we do know a little more about what the film will be about. Through various interviews and news items over the past couple of months, del Toro has revealed key details relating to the overall plot. Most specifically, this unconventional love story has been labeled as a mix of two other unorthodox romances, with a description that pegs it as "Wall-E meets Splash." Throwing that image into 1963 as the socio-political backdrop only makes us want to see this film even more than ever, despite the heightened level of mystery surrounding it.
Looking at the setting, as well as the specific year of 1963, we'd venture a guess that this story is going to focus on a human / alien romance, with both the space race and international being mixed into this story of love in a time of fear. For those of you keeping score, throw Bridge Of Spies into the mixture of projects to keep in mind. With Octavia Spencer being the first person cast on the project, we'd also like to presume that she will be one of the two star-crossed lovers who will fight society and fate to stay together. Again, this is more wishful thinking than anything, but if you're going to cast someone with the stature and chops of Spencer in your film, it seems like a foregone conclusion that her golden charms will be on full display. Now if only we could get del Toro mainstay Ron Perlman cast as the other romantic lead, we'd have ourselves an event too good to pass up.
Before you get your hopes up too high, it's good to remember that much like other iconic directors who load up on potential projects, there's a chance that Guillermo del Toro could pass this onto another helmer. That having been said, with inside sources stating he's had this film on the front burner for some time now, the law of probability has us believing that this will be the next film to have del Toro's signature style all over it. In the meantime, you can see Octavia Spencer in The Divergent Series: Allegiant, which is currently in theaters for early showings.
