The product of one genius mind can still become a movie masterpiece without merchandise or a huge publicity campaign.
Pan’s Labyrinth is a fantastic and horrifying movie about the a little girl escaping the brutal reality of the Spanish Civil War of 1944. The director, writer and creator of the movie is Guillermo del Toro (wiki). He is the creative genius behind the entire masterpiece that received three academy awards: best cinematography, best art director, best makeup.
Del Toro (Kermode, 2006) made his film debut with Cronos in 1993. In 2001 he created The Devil’s Backbone which could be considered as the prequel or brother of Pan’s Labyrinth (Kermode, 2006 & Fischer, 2006). Del Toro has also produced Hollywood blockbusters, like Blade II, Hellboy (Kermode, 2006) and Mimic (Rodriguez, 2007). From his Hollywood adventures he learned that it is difficult to preserve your own artistic vision in the blockbusters. That’s why he decided to keep Pan’s Labyrinth a Spanish production(Rodriguez, 2007).
In the publicity the movie got it is emphasized that Pan’s Labyrinth is truly a product of Del Toro. Sergi Lopez (Topel, 2007) describes how Del Toro approached him for the role of Captain Vidal: “For two hours and a half he explained to me all the movie, but with all the details, it was incredible, and when he finished I said, ‘You have a script?’ He said, ‘No, nothing is written.’” (Topel, 2007). Del Toro envisioned every detail of the movie in his mind and when Lopez looks at the finished product it’s exactly how Del Toro described it a year and a half before the start of the shooting.
Ivana Baquero, who plays leading lady Ofelia, describes in an interview (Spelling 2006) how involved Del Toro was with the movie. Kermode (2006) praises Del Toro and explains in detail how Del Toro came up with the idea for the movie. Kermode also describes Del Toro’s style: “This willingness to confront pain and to forge his own cinematic dictionary has informed the blend of innocence and brutality that is a trademark of del Toro's phantasmagorical cinema.” Del Toro hasn’t produced that much movies, yet in every review or interview I read the press is creating the image of him as a movie-making-genius. He is praised to the point that it gets boring.
The publicity around Pan’s Labyrinth was focused on the creator Guillermo Del Toro and emphasizes the fact that small budget movies can still become masterpieces. Unlike Pirates of the Caribbean or Spiderman 3, Pan’s Labyrinth isn’t about the celebrities or the merchandise. In fact, I couldn’t even find any merchandise for this movie. In the official message board there is actually a thread where the fans ask the company to produce some merchandise, because they like to buy it. Pan’s Labyrinth shows that even without the huge publicity campaign and the merchandise a single human being can produce a successful and award winning movie.
Literature
Fischer, P. (September 26, 2006). Exclusive Interview: Guillermo Del Toro for "Pan's Labyrinth". Dark Horizons. Retrieved May 12, 2007.
Kermode, M. (November 5, 2006). Pain should not be sought - but it should never be avoided. Guardian Unlimited. Retrieved May 12, 2007.
Rodriguez, R. (January 17, 2007). Director keeps Hollywood out of "Pan's Labyrinth". The Seatle Times. Retrieved May 12, 2007.
Spelling, I. (December 26, 2006). Guillermo del Toro and Ivana Baquero escape from a civil war into the fairytale land of Pan's Labyrinth. SCI FI Weekly. Retrieved May 12, 2007.
Topel, F. (January 2, 2007). Sergi Lopez on Pan’s Labyrinth. CanMag. Retrieved May 12, 2007.