Guillermo del Toro Criticizes AI and Praises Resilience at Cannes 2024

During an appearance at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, acclaimed director Guillermo del Toro made headlines by calling the making of ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ the “second worst filmmaking experience of my life.” He also criticized the growing belief that “art can be done with a f—king app.”

Del Toro attended the festival this week to speak following a screening of a new 4K restoration of his 2006 dark fantasy masterpiece, set against the backdrop of Spain’s Franco dictatorship. The film originally premiered at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, where it received a 22-minute standing ovation—a record that still stands today.

Reflecting on that historic moment, del Toro shared,

“It was so weird because, in spite of my great body, I’m not used to adulation. It’s very hard for me to take love. And Alfonso Cuarón was there with me in the hallway and he said, ‘Let it in. Let the love get in.’”

Speaking on the relevance of ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ in today’s world, del Toro added,

“We are, unfortunately, in times that make this movie more pertinent than ever because they tell us everything is useless to resist, that art can be done with a fucking app and we are facing things so formidable. But I feel and I think, like the girl Ofelia in ‘Pan’s Labyrinth,’ if we can just leave a mark, if we can put our faith against our faith and our strength against our strength, there is hope.”

He concluded with a powerful message:

“The last thing we can have is to give to one of the two forces: we can give to love, or we can give to fear. Never, never, never give to fear.”

Del Toro’s sharp criticism of AI in filmmaking was a clear jab at the growing debate surrounding its use in movies and television. The Oscar-winning director has been vocal about his opposition, previously stating “f—k AI” publicly and revealing last year that he would “rather die” than incorporate generative AI into his work.

The 4K restoration of ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’, created from the original 35mm negative, is currently screening at Cannes as part of the festival’s Cannes Classics lineup. During the event, del Toro also revisited the challenges he faced while making the film.

“Twenty years ago, making this movie was like going against everything at all times,” he admitted. “It was the second worst filmmaking experience of my life, the first one being ‘Mimic’ with the Weinsteins. That was horrible.”

He continued,

“No one wanted to finance it, and in production we had everything that could go wrong, go wrong. And then, in post-production it was equally difficult.”

Despite the hardships, ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ remains widely regarded as one of del Toro’s finest works and a landmark in dark fantasy cinema.