'The Shape of Water' Final Trailer Unveiled; Director Guillermo del Toro Likens Movie to 'Beauty and the Beast'
Fox Searchlight has released the final trailer of "The Shape of Water," a new movie from director Guillermo del Toro set to be released later this year.
The trailer opens at a government research center in 1962. Cleaning ladies Elisa (Sally Hawkins) and Zelda (Octavia Spencer) are told by Colonel Richard Strickland (Michael Shannon) that their only job there is to clean and, after that, they should leave.
He then describes the thing they are keeping in there, which he personally captured and brought back to the research center. Before they know it, Strickland is screaming and bleeding. Elisa and Zelda then need to clean up the blood. Elisa, who is mute, picks up Strickland's severed fingers.
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Although there are a lot of parties involved, Elisa eventually falls in love with the amphibian creature (Doug Jones) the government is keeping. By the looks of it, she concocts a plan to get him out of the facility before he is killed. She enlists the help of a reluctant Zelda, but her move puts them all in danger.
The director revealed to Variety that the story of "The Shape of Water" is, essentially, a different version of the classic fairytale, "Beauty and the Beast." He had contacted Hawkins years ago, without a script, to star in the film. Hawkins immediately agreed, but it was until much later that development started mobilizing.
"The idea was to create, through fantasy and science fiction forms, a new type of 'Beauty and the Beast' in which the beauty is someone you can relate to — not a perfect princess. And the beast doesn't need to transform to find love," del Toro said.
He also revealed that constructing the overall look of the amphibious man called for a lot of hard work because of the nature of the film. The final design was three years in the making.
"The creation of the creature demanded a lot because we were not creating a monster; we were creating a leading man," he said. "That required a little more sophistication in the execution of the suit, the makeup, and the performance."
At the very core of the film, however, is a powerful and relevant message, del Toro explained to The Hollywood Reporter.
"The beauty of this movie is that love is about acceptance and understanding and you don't have to change," he said.
"The Shape of Water" hits U.S. cinemas on Dec. 1.
