Director explains decision of having the film converted to 3D in post-production

Sep 26, 2012 09:20 GMT  ·  By
Guillermo del Toro explains criticized decision of having “Pacific Rim” converted to 3D in post-production
   Guillermo del Toro explains criticized decision of having “Pacific Rim” converted to 3D in post-production

“Pacific Rim” is believed to be next summer’s biggest movie and, considering it has Guillermo del Toro in the director’s chair, it’s not hard to understand the hype. It’s just as easy to understand the frustration of fans when confirmation came that it would get 3D post-conversion.

Del Toro has never released a 3D film and, as we also reported around the time of Comic-Con 2012 in San Diego, he has zero intentions of making “Pacific Rim” his first.

As it happens, only a few days ago, confirmation came that the film would be converted in post-production, which prompted a lot of talk about how the studio had finally found a way to twist the director’s arm into doing what they’d wanted all along.

Del Toro is painfully aware of how this might look from the outside, which is why he’s taking the time to explain what happened, in a new interview with STYD.

The bottom line, though, is simple: he changed his mind about the whole 3D thing. In return, he got four wishes granted.

“The more the ILM shots arrived, the more I realized that there were only a few shots that would miniaturize. I asked the studio, number one, that we would not hyper-stereo-lize the thing. That we would not force 3D on the beauty shots. That we would keep the giant dimensions. They agreed,” del Toro says.

“Number two, they agreed to something very unusual. Normally a conversion takes a few weeks. I asked to start it immediately so we could take the full 40 weeks to do the conversion. As an example, ‘Titanic’ took about 50 weeks to convert,” he adds.

Del Toro also asked for more money, and Warner Bros. actually agreed to that as well. This will guarantee better 3D shots.

“[We will] actually have ILM composite the shots that are CG native 3D. We’re not giving elements. ILM is giving the composite in 3D from the get-go. That’s a huge, huge element,” the director stresses.

The final point he raised with Warners and was granted was to be in charge of the whole conversion process and, most importantly, to have the final say in it. What more could he have asked for, del Toro wonders.

“Now I’m going to be involved in supervising it. What can I tell you? I changed my mind. I’m not running for office. I can do a Romney,” he says.

“Pacific Rim” will be out in theaters in both 3D and 2D on July 12, 2013.