Guillermo del Toro Cabinet of Curiosities: My Notebooks, Collections, and Other Obsessions

The media could not be loaded.  If you like Guillermo del Toro's films, heard of his Bleak House but have never seen what's inside, or just admire his sense and sensibilities, this is going to be an incredible book for you. It provides wonderful insight into the working mind of a director and eclectic collector.This is a big and heavy book. The hardcover is nicely embossed to make it feel like a wooden bookshelf. Inside, the book is filled with plenty of pictures and extensive text which makes for a substantial reading.The book's roughly split into three parts, covering his collections, notebooks and lastly the unfinished projects.The first part shows off the amazing collection of items found in his man cave, also known as Bleak House. There are photos of the different rooms and the incredible amount of objects he collects. There are movie props, huge piles of books, all sorts of character figures, a few life-size sculptures, one is of H.P. Lovecraft, in the hallway there's the monster Sammael from Hellboy and many more. The whole place feels like an intimate museum. The photos are delightful, and when you look closely you can spot surprises, such as a Totoro or a book you might also have read.In this section, GDT also talks about his graphic inspirations, on how he read paintings, analyse films, explains his techniques of storytelling and his idea incubating notebooks. Fascinating.The second part on notebooks actually looks at the eight films he has made so far, namely Cronos, Mimic, The Devil's Backbone, Blade II, Hellboy, Pan's Labyrinth, Hellboy II and Pacific Rim.In interview style, author Marc Scott Zicree (MSZ) and GDT talks at length and in detail the inspiration behind each film. It's really insightful to read about how the ideas morph and evolve. No all ideas get used, of course, but you'll still see them in the notebook pages. You'll gain much more if you've watched the movies, although that is not totally necessary, but highly recommended. Pacific Rim's coverage is sadly much shorter than the other films.The numerous scanned notebook pages really provides another dimension to how GDT's mind works. There's quite a lot to read from the notebooks' captions alone. Also included are amazing concept designs from GDT himself.GDT says the notebooks are for his daughters, but they only draw manga style and find his drawings reprehensible and horrible. That's pretty funny. Author MSZ managed to elicit lots of interesting bits of information with thoughtful questions.The last part on unfinished projects is quite brief. Five projects are mentioned with each taking two pages.Interspersed throughout the book are also write-up by prominent guests, such as James Cameron, John Landis, Alfonso Cuaron, Ron Perlman, Mike Mignola and others just to name a few.What's missing in the book is perhaps his role as a producer on other films. I would love to read about what he does as a producer. It's not mentioned in any way, but that's a small issue.Overall, this is a truly insightful and incredible book. Highly recommended.(There are more pictures of the book on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

The media could not be loaded.  If you've followed the career of director Guillermo del Toro, you no doubt have an admiration for his films. On the whole, some films are more successful than others - but they all have great design work. In particular, his films are known for their abundance of creatures (some elegant, others terrifying).We get personal artwork from every film that Mr. del Toro has directed - "Cronos", "Mimic", "The Devil's Backbone", "Blade II", "Hellboy", "Pan's Labyrinth", "Hellboy II: The Golden Army", and "Pacific Rim". Most of these are early drawings, sketches, and storyboards - and some of it differs greatly from what appears in the finished film. There are also full-page scans from del Toro's idea journals, which includes extensive writing in both English and Spanish. I am so glad that this artwork has been made available, it shows how much time and effort goes into the designs of these movies.Del Toro has been attached to dozens of projects, yet he has only made 8 films. So there's a lot of work that has yet to make it to the screen - fortunately, we also get a few pages of designs from some of these unfinished projects, such as "At the Mountains of Madness" and "Meat Market".By far the best and most numerous designs come from "Pan's Labyrinth" and the two "Hellboy" movies... a lot of the book's real estate is dedicated to those films. In terms of disappointments, I would have liked to have seen more from "Pacific Rim" - there are about 10 pages or so on that movie, but oddly there are no Jaeger or Kaiju drawings.What's NOT included in the book: most notably, del Toro spent 2+ years working on pre-production of "The Hobbit" before leaving the project. As a fan, I would have loved to see some of his artwork from Middle-Earth. Also, del Toro has overseen various Dreamworks Animation projects, like "Rise of the Guardians" and "Kung Fu Panda 2". I'm not sure how hands-on his involvement with those films was, but its hard to imagine he didn't sketch out something for those movies.There are a number of notable individuals who author pages discussing their friendship/collaboration with Guillermo del Toro:James Cameron - director of "Titanic" & "Avatar"; writes the book's Foreword.Alfonso Cuaron - acclaimed director of "Children of Men" & "Gravity", longtime friend of del Toro.Mike Mignola - artist and writer of HellboyRon Perlman - actor who has appeared in many of del Toro's moviesTom Cruise - was set to star in del Toro's film "Mountains of Madness"; writes the book's Afterword.We also get an extensive interview with del Toro, and photographs from his Bleak House (an entire house full of horror artifacts, models, and artwork that inspire him).

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I am a fan of del Toro's work although I've not seen all of his movies. Oddly enough I am not a big fan of horror movies (though I was as a youngster) so there are quite a few bodies of work in this book that are new to me. The book is absolutely coffee table quality and quite beautiful. The drawings and pictures are top notch and are a credit to del Toro's genius. There is one major drawback for me - it stinks! I mean that literally. The book absolutely reeks of chemicals. I've no idea how they made this book but it smells as though dipping it in a volatile chemical bath was part of the process. I still cannot read it yet having only leafed through it before I succumbed to the stench. I received it a 3 weeks ago today and had to leave it in the garage due to the odor. The smell is definitely lessening especially since I opened up the book and placed socks betwixt the pages to lift them and get more airflow. I cannot wait to actually be able to read the book. I very seriously considered returning the book due to the smell however, I decided not to since it was perfect in every other way. Hopefully I shall get to read it someday- preferably BEFORE I look like the pale man lol!EDITED TO ADD 8/10/14This book is great for any del Toro fan as I have mentioned however, the book STILL smells bad eight months later! It is definitely less noticeable but still very present. This may be something to bear in mind if one is sensitive to odors.

Thought this would be an interesting gift full of interesting scribbles and thoughts from the director and a bit of a look into the bits of Del Toro's mind that didn't make it to screen. Instead it turns out the book was more of a fanboy gallery of trivia and other information from the various movies, and not many interesting/unexpected drawings. While still good as a gift, and a great value book for the price you pay, I'd have rathered something more personal and less generic memorabilia

A truly insightful and beautifully produced window into the mind of Guillermo del Toro. The book itself is large format and high quality in both print finish, paperweight and overflowing with both imagery of concept sketches, renders, on set behind the scenes candid shots and a wealth of info and inspiration in written word that will intrigue and entertain. Whether you've seen just one of his films, a handful of them, or are an epic fan and have seen them all, this book will not disappoint.

I love Guillermo del Toro: love his movies, his writing, his view of the world and his style of living.This book is wonderfully presented and written. It's a great window into the life of GDT.I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone who is interested in learning more about GDT, but also the act (art!) of making films and the mind behind such wonderful characters and creatures like Hellboy and Pan's Labyrinth.A fantastic read!

A fascinating insight into GdT on where he finds his inspiration, his obsession with colour palettes and his work on films. Basically its a film-biography, sort of, a look at GdT and his film/working life. Ideas from initial thought through to fruition in film.

Beautifully illustrated book for del Toro fans and artists alike.So glad that I purchased this and it helps with University studies too!Couldn't find anything on del Toro at my local library, so this is an essential tool if studying art, surrealism etc.Highly recommended...go buy it!