Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro is a master of creature horror with several of his movies featuring some of the strangest monsters. However, one of his earliest movies, Pan’s Labyrinth, has arguably some of the most scary character designs for a creature with both the Pale Man and the Faun, being truly unique and horrifying designs.
During an interview, the director revealed that the original design for the infamous Pale Man was almost entirely different. However, del Toro decided to change the design at the last moment as he wanted to layer in some thematic expression in the character’s design, which made the Pale Man even scarier. Here is what del Toro had to say about the changes and why I am glad the director opted for a new design.
Guillermo del Toro explained why he changed the Pale Man’s design in Pan’s Labyrinth
Directed by Guillermo del Toro, Pan’s Labyrinth was released in 2006, emerging as one of the greatest dark fantasy films ever made. The movie revolves around Ofelia, a young girl’s interactions with creatures in an ancient stone labyrinth.
In the film, Ofelia accidentally awakens the Pale Man, a child-eating monster. During an interview with the British Film Institute, del Toro revealed that the design for the Pale Man was changed at the last moment, having first envisioned the creature as a feeble old man with loose skin.
The original design was just an old man who seemed to have lost a lot of weight and was covered in loose skin. Then I removed the face, so it became part of the personality of the institution.
del Toro made the above statement, explaining that he intended to represent the darker side of the church as an institution and its impact on children. Furthermore, the Academy Award-winning director revealed that he wanted to represent the church’s political power via the creature.
He admitted to drawing inspiration from a Polish poster of a woman screaming while covering her eyes with translucent hands. As a result, del Toro rooted the creature in the very real fear of children being led down a dark path and I am so glad the director decided to evolve the Pale Man’s design to more fittingly represent that idea.
Guillermo del Toro revealed the two rockstars who inspired the Faun in Pan’s Labyrinth
During the same interview, del Toro also discussed the creation of the Faun, the other prominent creature from the movie, with both roles being played by Dough Jones. The Hellboy duology director explained that developing the Faun character proved much more difficult.
del Toro stated that the primary idea behind the Faun was to make him very masculine but not overly aggressive. As a result, he instructed Jones to seek inspiration from two of the most prominent rockstars.
When he first started working on the role, and saying: ‘More Mick Jagger, less David Bowie!’ I wanted the faun to have a rock-star quality.
The director made the above comment, adding that he wanted the Faun to be extremely masculine.
Moreover, del Toro revealed that the idea of crafting a hyper-masculine Faun came from his desire to contrast Ofelia / Princess Moanna’s more feminine energy. Therefore, the filmmaker compared the contrast between Ofelia and the creatures with the archetypes of Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung.
Pan’s Labyrinth can be rented on Amazon Prime Video.
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