Appearing alongside Jane Campion, Pedro Almodóvar, Kenneth Branagh, Asghar Farhadi, and Reinaldo Marcus Green as part of The Hollywood Reporter’s Director’s Roundtable, del Toro took a strong stance against the use of real guns in filmmaking. The Oscar-winning director said that he has not fired a real gun on set “since 2007 or 2008.” According to del Toro, the decision began as a practical necessity, but later became his preferred approach.

“It started with ‘The Devil’s Backbone,’ because we were forbidden to shoot in Segovia [Spain]. We were forbidden to shoot in a forest because the ignition could start a forest fire,” del Toro said. And after seeing how well the finished product came out, he began to question whether using real guns was worth all of the extra work and safety risk. Related Cate Blanchett Was Ready to ‘Play a Pencil’ for Guillermo del Toro in ‘Pinocchio’ Guillermo del Toro Has Always Been a Champion of Animation Related Oscars 2023: Can Anyone Top ‘Maverick’ in Best Sound? 17 HBO and HBO Max Original Series to Get Excited About in 2023
“All the paraphernalia that comes with [real guns], you have to put Mylar glass in front of the camera, everybody has to leave the camera crew, everybody has to be protected, you do a whole number,” del Toro said. “And from the practical safety point of view, there’s no reason to do it.” Much of the Hollywood Reporter roundtable focused on the leadership aspects of directing, rather than the artistic ones. All four directors spoke about the job in terms of managing large teams of people, so the conversation naturally led to a discussion about the role that a director plays in keeping their cast and crew safe. “Accidents do happen,” del Toro admitted. “I’ve had accidents in my sets. If an accident happens by the confluence of three, four factors that are unpredictable, that’s one thing. But if they happen and there’s one or two factors that are preventable, that weighs heavily on the director or producer.” Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.