Guillermo del Toro defends "humanity's inalienable right to be fucked" during the "Three Amigos" panel

The “Three Amigos,” as Guillermo del Toro, Alfonso Cuarón and Alejandro G. Iñárritu are often called, gathered on stage at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Friday for a panel hosted by Netflix on their life as Mexico. three leading filmmakers.

The event was apparently focused on Iñárritu and del Toro's Netflix-produced Oscar contenders, "Bardo" and "Pinocchio," with Cuarón handling moderator duties. (Del Toro had to be constantly reminded that he wasn't supposed to praise Cuarón, a rule the "Shape of Water" director wasn't too happy about). But the three friends quickly turned it into a wide-ranging conversation about their artistry, their collaboration and, of course, their eventual death.

"One thing we have in common is that we don't have a difference between filmography and biography," del Toro said at the start of the panel. "We make films that reflect our lives, where we were at the beginning."

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This topic has certainly been on Iñárritu's mind as he promotes the most personal film of his career, 'Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths'. The sprawling, dreamlike film about a successful filmmaker returning to Mexico after years of working abroad was both a return to his Mexican roots and a bold artistic departure. Although the film is far less linear than Iñárritu's other recent work, he still sees the film as an extension of his career-long fascination with death.

"I think it comes from a very primitive fear and consciousness that we all share," Iñárritu said. "That is to say, regardless of race, nationality, background, regardless of political persuasion, we will all die... So for me, having the opportunity to imagine your own death and to imagining how you can tell this story from that perspective, makes it a little deeper. And the meanings and priorities come out a little more clearly."

It was a sentiment shared by del Toro. "I've been thinking about dying since I was seven," he said.

When the conversation turned to del Toro's career, he talked about how "Pinocchio" tied his well-documented fascination with monsters to the larger themes that define his career.

“I recognize two of them,” del Toro said when asked about the patterns that recur throughout his work. "One of them is the virtue of disobedience, which I think is vital. To be disobedient is to be a thinking person. And I think the other is the absolute and inalienable right to be screwed. To be imperfect. I think imperfection is one of the most beautiful things. And that's why I think those things are represented very well in the monster."

Del Toro also spoke about the influence Catholicism has had on his career. “Pinocchio” features more Catholic imagery than perhaps any film he has made to date, and the director says the process of working on the film led him to stop denying the influence that the religion of his childhood had on his artistic talent.

“I am a non-practicing Catholic, but a Catholic,” he continued. "And lots of images and resurrection – Pinocchio is like Jesus. He's like Christ, he's made of wood, he has nails, rises three times to save those he loves... The older I get, the more I accept that things must get worse there and I'm okay with it. I grew up with Catholic cosmology, and I love it. I think it's a mythology that's ingrained in my bones. ."

While the conversation featured plenty of good-natured banter (Iñárritu's intensity and del Toro's constant denial of his retirement plans were the butt of many a joke), the friends ended the evening on a high note. sentimental. The three men expressed their gratitude for being able to share their trip to Hollywood with two friends who understood their complex lives better than anyone.

“The blessing in my life as a filmmaker is such a privileged job that we have, but it is so difficult and sometimes so lonely to walk this path,” an emotional Iñárritu said. "Never alone in your life, always with two friends who can keep you in check and can celebrate success with you. These two guys, without them, I wouldn't exist."

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