Fans are gonna have to wait a little bit longer forGuillermo del Toro’s nextnextproject. While the filmmaker’s highly anticipated fableThe Shape of Waterhits theaters in December, he had intended to start prep work on the big budgetFantastic Voyagefor 20th Century Fox and Lightstorm this fall. However, Deadline reports that prep work forVoyage—a remake of the 1965 film about a team of scientists who get miniaturized and inserted into the body of a colleague to save his life—is now being put on pause until next spring. Why? Buzz onThe Shape of Waterisincrediblystrong, and right now it looks like del Toro could find himself in the midst of a very busy awards season, so Fox and Lightstorm agreed to keep del Toro’s schedule open until after the Oscar ceremony next March.
Written and directed by del Toro,The Shape of Watertakes place during the Cold War and starsSally Hawkinsas a mute janitor working at a top secret government facility that houses a fish man. Early buzz for the movie has been heating up, and it’ll have its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, which begins on August 31st, before heading to the Toronto Film Festival and possibly Telluride—all three of which are major precursors for Oscar glory.
Comparisons to del Toro’s Oscar-winningPan’s Labyrinthhave already surfaced, and Fox’s decision to postponeFantastic Voyageprep (Fox Searchlight is distributingShape of Water) is yet another sign that this one could be a major player throughout the awards season. And indeed awards season is a marathon, not a sprint, so if del Toro was busy prepping sets, casting, and developingFantastic Voyageat the same time, he may not be able to be on the awards circuit in a way that would giveShape of Waterthe best chance at succeeding—campaigning, like it or not, is a necessary step towards winning awards.
The road to Oscar doesn’t begin with nominations in January, it starts with the festival debuts and includes screenings, Q&A’s, interviews, appearances, not to mention feting other precursor awards from critics and industry groups that keep the movie in the zeitgeist. So expect to see del Toro out on the circuit throughout the fall and, ifShape of Wateris as good as folks are saying, possibly up through next March’s Oscars ceremony.
The intention was to start production onFantastic Voyagein the spring for a possible 2019 release, but Deadline says they’ll now regroup and pick up the prep next year in anticipation of starting production by next fall or maybe even earlier. Del Toro reportedly remains committed to makingFantastic Voyage, which hasJames Cameronproducing and will give del Toro free range to work with a big blockbuster effects budget. But it’s understandable that he’d want the time to support his smaller film,The Shape of Water, to the best of his abilities.
