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"It's about world-saving but it's not a military movie. I want an adventure movie"
Guillermo del Toro's
Pacific Rim is all about scale. He is bringing his kaiju (strange beasts) monsters to the big screen, to do battle against giant robots. For authenticity he went as far as building streets that could vibrate, to give off the effect of a large creature stepping on the surface. And if these creatures are anything like the Kaiju mythology than we can expect one to be reptilian, another to have a crustacean look to it, and another could fly.
When working on a film of this scale you better make sure you have the right guys helping you, and Guillermo thinks he has done just that.
"I went for raw power and beauty. I only hired guys who are absolute monster fans and robot fans.
How about those robots?
The robots are real machines rather than movie machines - gorgeous and functional at the same time. Each of the robots, when they step in, has their own personality. One has a huge spiky mace made of iron, and another has a giant battleaxe. You don't go, 'I wonder what his fighting style is?' You immediately understand what his fight style is!"
Guillermo actually went to his official fansite and clarified that quote about the spiky mace and giant battleaxe. He says, "Alas, the battle axe and spiked mace are misplaced quotes (my damn accent, I'm sure) I wont clear more for fear of spoilers- but the weapons are both melee and ammo. Anyway- The "cutlery" we have is pretty cool."
Where will the battles take place?
"We had a Tokyo scene that we shot here in Toronto. We had several Hong Kong scenes and a few scenes in Australia, through the television. We briefly see the kaiju take over San Francisco. The whole Pacific Rim needs a sense of danger."
"We take the battles far and above! Two or three of them happen in places where there have never been a battle between kaiju and robots. From the bottom of the ocean to the atmosphere of the Earth. We have a battle in a storm at sea. Every battle we try to do differently. One is seen from the point of view of a single person. We never cut away from that point of view."
SYNOPSIS - When legions of monstrous creatures, known as Kaiju, started rising from the sea, a war began that would take millions of lives and consume humanity’s resources for years on end. To combat the giant Kaiju, a special type of weapon was devised: massive robots, called Jaegers, which are controlled simultaneously by two pilots whose minds are locked in a neural bridge. But even the Jaegers are proving nearly defenseless in the face of the relentless Kaiju. On the verge of defeat, the forces defending mankind have no choice but to turn to two unlikely heroes-a washed up former pilot (Charlie Hunnam) and an untested trainee (Rinko Kikuchi)-who are teamed to drive a legendary but seemingly obsolete Jaeger from the past. Together, they stand as mankind’s last hope against the mounting apocalypse.
Pacific Rim is scheduled for release on July 12, 2013. The cast includes Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Charlie Day, Rinko Kikuchi, Max Martini, Rob Kazinsky, Clifton Collins Jr. and Diego Klattenhoff.