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Guillermo Del Toro Reveals Why He Hasn't Watched Pacific Rim: Uprising
Director Guillermo Del Toro has revealed why he didn't direct Pacific Rim: Uprising, and del Toro still hasn't seen the second film despite his producer credit.
Pacific Rim is a film that didn't light the world on fire when it was released in 2013, proving there was zero justice in the world. However, as time has passed, the world has decided to come around to the correct opinion and have realized just how awesome this movie is. There was a lot of rumbling for years that there would be a sequel, but it just never seemed to come together. That is, until 2018 when Pacific Rim: Uprising was released to a resounding "how about no" from fans, critics, and audiences alike. One of the big reasons the first film worked so well was director Guillermo Del Toro, but he wasn't involved with the second film save as a producer. Collider recently hosted a special screening of Pacific Rim and asked del Toro why he didn't end up directing the second film, and it turns out someone just dropped the ball and missed a very basic deadline.
"We were getting ready to do it, it was different from the first, but it had a continuation of many of the things that I was trying to do. Then what happened is—I mean, this is why life's crazy, right?—they had to give a deposit for the stages at 5 p.m., or we would lose the stages in Toronto for many months," Del Toro said. "So, I said, 'Don't forget we're gonna lose the stages,' and five o'clock came and went, and we lost the stages. They said, 'Well, we can shoot it in China.' And I go, 'What do you mean we?' [Laughs] 'I've gotta go do Shape of Water.'"
So, while del Toro walked away to do the amazing The Shape of Water, that doesn't mean that all was good regarding Pacific Rim: Uprising. Despite having a producer credit on the film, del Toro revealed that he's never actually watched it, saying, "I didn't see the final movie because that's like watching home movies from your ex-wife," he explained. "It is terrible if they're good and worse if they're bad, or the opposite. You don't wanna know. So, I didn't see it. I did read the final script, and it was very different. Some of the elements were the same but very different." That's a very diplomatic way of explaining that script, but the way that film completely bombed in so many ways is why we aren't seeing anymore of the Pacific Rim universe on the big screen anytime soon despite all of the potential–all because someone couldn't meet a 5 PM deadline to book a soundstage.