Pale Man

Yeah.

Yeah, and I remember, I remember being exceptionally blind as the Pale Man, and that, uh, uh, yeah, 'cause I was looking, I, I had no eyes in my face and I had these two big nostrils that I could look downward that way and downward that way, so I did not have a clear vision of where I was.

Seeing the film in the finished product was like, what a gorgeous chamber he was in with hideous, uh, artwork that was, um, beautiful yet hideous artwork of, of his past kills and dinners with, with, [laughs] with children and a pile of shoes on the floor that proved he'd done this before.

Uh, uh, you know, moments like that again, seeing how the edit job and, and, and, uh, and the, having the musical score, which was also just gorgeous for that movie, it all come together, it's like, wow, the Pale Man scene was something, uh, unlike, uh, what I remember filming.

It to, it, it took it up so many notches when I actually saw it.

It's pretty amazing.

But also for the, the thing, the Pale Man, you had to, you, for reference for the, uh, effects people you had-

Oh

Her stepfather, Captain Vidal, is hunting resistance fighters.

nearby a faun tells her she may be a princess from another world del toro gives you extraordinary things to look at that makes you worry about getting too close to them the faun looks ancient and worn as though he's been waiting underground for a very long time you want to believe him because ophelia needs someone to believe but he doesn't make it easy then there's the pale man sitting motionless at a banquet with his eyes on the plate in front of him Ophelia has one very clear instruction.

Don't eat anything.

You can spend the entire scene willing a child to leave two grapes alone.

Hmm

... to do CGI, and pulled in his old pal Doug Jones, who shows up under 10 pounds of latex horns playing both the faun and the horrifying Pale Man.

Uh, some viewers and reviewers have described the film as a bait and switch.

You come for fantastical horror and mostly get a very human story about fascistic violence, which is not what I wanted, thank you very much.

And so when she go- in this movie, when she goes int- on these, like, little adventures, it is some way of her, like, processing the literal things she sees.

So, you know, the, the toad is, like, Vidal.

And the feast i- with the Pale Man is like the feast with, like...

I mean, of all the things they...

And I feel like if you'd subtracted one of them, it would have been a way better movie.

Yeah I don't know what the deal with that was But yeah just that scene It was just like stick with me forever Because it was so Messed up Like Pan's Labyrinth is like ultra violent There are scenes of torture There are scenes of like people's faces Being beaten in by wine bottles There are people getting like Their legs amputated The pale man who's now, like, in the zeitgeist of, like, pulp, you know, fiction forever.

Yeah.

You know, if you drew hands, you know, yeah, yeah, exactly.

So the source highlights his masterpiece, Pan's Labyrinth.

There is a deeply disturbing hidden detail in the Pale Man's lair, you know, the terrifying monster with eyeballs in his hands.

Such a scary scene.

Well, del Toro designed the fireplace and the architecture of that room to specifically mimic the female reproductive system, specifically the fallopian tubes.

Wow.

Just a brilliant piece of subconscious production design.

He thought nobody would even notice it, but thematically, the Pale Man represents the horrors of institutional authority devouring innocence.

So designing the lair to mirror a corrupted womb embeds the entire psychological thesis right into the set dressing.

panslabyrinth20.com to get tickets at a theater near you.

The incomparable legend, Mr. Doug Jones, is here! We're gonna step back inside the Labyrinth to explore the creation of two of cinema's most unforgettable creatures, the Fawn and the Pale Man.

Working with Guillermo del Toro, finding humanity inside monsters, the incredible physical language of his performances, and what these characters mean to him two decades later.

Episode 481, let's just get into it.

A breath, a gesture, the smallest movement of a hand...

You can make something that shouldn't exist feel like it has lived for a thousand years before we even laid eyes on it.

And 20 years ago, the extraordinary gift helped bring two unforgettable beings to life in one of the greatest dark fantasies ever made, the mysterious ancient faun and one of the most horrifying creatures ever committed to film, the Pale Man, Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth.

It was nominated for six Academy Awards, winning three for its breathtaking cinematography, art direction, and makeup, and became one of those rare movies that doesn't simply endure.