{"id":2159208,"date":"2025-11-15T21:43:23","date_gmt":"2025-11-15T21:43:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2159208"},"modified":"2025-11-15T21:43:23","modified_gmt":"2025-11-15T21:43:23","slug":"the-disastrous-1997-horror-movie-that-led-to-guillermo-del-toros-hellboy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/the-disastrous-1997-horror-movie-that-led-to-guillermo-del-toros-hellboy\/","title":{"rendered":"The Disastrous 1997 Horror Movie That Led To Guillermo Del Toro&#8217;s Hellboy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div data-article-body=\"true\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Film fans cherish Guillermo del Toro for his powerful storytelling ability and sublime visual language, especially when it comes to monsters. Despite his enviable filmography \u2014 which includes sensational features such as &#8220;Pan&#8217;s Labyrinth,&#8221; &#8220;The Shape of Water&#8221; and &#8220;Frankenstein&#8221; \u2014 del Toro doesn&#8217;t look back on one of his earlier movies too fondly: 1997&#8217;s horror &#8220;Mimic.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Starring Mira Sorvino, Josh Brolin, Jeremy Northam, and Charles S. Dutton, &#8220;Mimic&#8221; centers around the creation of a new insect made to exterminate an infestation of pathogenic cockroaches; however, this bug evolves into something much deadlier. <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.looper.com\/355701\/the-absolute-best-killer-insect-horror-movie-according-to-reddit\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Redditors voted it one of the best killer insect horror movies;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Redditors voted it one of the best killer insect horror movies<\/a>, and it&#8217;s a frightening concept, but del Toro hasn&#8217;t shied away from discussing something likely far scarier for him: dealing with the Weinstein brothers and Miramax Films. &#8220;I have got to tell you, two horrible things happened in the late nineties, my father was kidnapped and I worked with the Weinsteins,&#8221; del Toro said at the 2017 BFI London Film Festival (via <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.indiewire.com\/features\/general\/guillermo-del-toro-harvey-weinstein-mimic-horrible-experience-1201886601\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:IndieWire;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">IndieWire<\/a>). &#8220;I know which one was worse&#8230; the kidnapping made more sense, I knew what they wanted.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The only saving grace is that during the tumultuous production, del Toro discovered the &#8220;Hellboy&#8221; comic book for the first time; the filmmaker would write and direct the 2004 live-action adaptation of Big Red. &#8220;The best thing that happened for me on the entire shoot of &#8216;Mimic&#8217; was that I was reading &#8216;Hellboy,'&#8221; del Toro revealed in a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/watch\/?v=774687326296660&amp;surface_type=vod&amp;referral_source=vod_deeplink_unit\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:&quot;Hellboy&quot; behind-the-scenes segment;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">&#8220;Hellboy&#8221; behind-the-scenes segment<\/a>. &#8220;I admired what Mike [Mignola, &#8216;Hellboy&#8217; creator] had done so enormously.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Read more: <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.looper.com\/1966106\/awful-movie-adaptations-should-have-never-happened\/?zsource=yahoo\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:10 Awful Movie Adaptations That Should Have Never Happened;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">10 Awful Movie Adaptations That Should Have Never Happened<\/a><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"mb-4 text-xl font-bold md:text-2xl\">Guillermo del Toro released a better cut of Mimic<\/h2>\n<div class=\"relative\"><img alt=\"Mira Sorvino's Dr. Susan Tyler looking at the monster in Mimic\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"780\" height=\"438\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/_jsuDqx.wLCYE.3pchcr8Q--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTUzOTtjZj13ZWJw\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/looper_828\/3383299ce3dd31958275648975a8ded9\"\/><span class=\"absolute bottom-0 right-0 rounded-full bg-white p-3 opacity-100 shadow-elevation-3 transition-opacity duration-300 group-hover:block group-hover:opacity-100 md:p-[17px] lg:bottom-6 lg:right-6 lg:bg-white\/90 lg:p-5 lg:opacity-0 lg:shadow-none\"><\/span><\/div>\n<p>Mira Sorvino&#8217;s Dr. Susan Tyler looking at the monster in Mimic &#8211; Miramax Films<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Even though Miramax clearly didn&#8217;t release the version of &#8220;Mimic&#8221; that Guillermo del Toro wanted, and he subsequently disowned the theatrical cut, some consider it to be an <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.looper.com\/1693887\/underrated-90s-horror-movies\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:underrated '90s horror movie;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">underrated &#8217;90s horror movie<\/a> gem. In 2011, the audience received the opportunity to see the filmmaker&#8217;s actual vision \u2014 sort of. A director&#8217;s cut of &#8220;Mimic&#8221; was released, but as del Toro explained to <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.denofgeek.com\/movies\/guillermo-del-toro-interview-the-directors-cut-of-mimic-hp-lovecraft-and-more-2\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Den of Geek;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Den of Geek<\/a>, it was never going to be his initial concept.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;I always said I needed [to return to &#8216;Mimic&#8217;], like making amends with myself,&#8221; he laughed. &#8220;Although the movie I wanted to make was never done, I knew there was a better cut of the movie laying somewhere in boxes in Miramax&#8217;s warehouse. So we went looking for all the footage, which was a big quest, and reinstated a bunch of material which is 10 or 12 minutes or more.&#8221; For del Toro, the director&#8217;s cut removed considerable second unit footage and brought back the moments that expanded on characters and theme.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">At the end of the day, it&#8217;s a win-win here. The filmmaker managed to show his better cut of &#8220;Mimic&#8221; to the world years later. Also, if it weren&#8217;t for the negative experience of &#8220;Mimic,&#8221; del Toro may not have found the escapism of &#8220;Hellboy,&#8221; which led to him creating a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.looper.com\/194666\/great-superhero-movies-that-arent-marvel-or-dc\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:great superhero movie that isn't part of Marvel or DC;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">great superhero movie that isn&#8217;t part of Marvel or DC<\/a>. Now, if only someone would let him complete the &#8220;Hellboy&#8221; trilogy with Ron Perlman &#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">If you enjoyed this article, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/subscribe.looper.com\/newsletter-syndicated\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:sign up to our free newsletter;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">sign up to our free newsletter<\/a> for the biggest movie and TV news delivered straight to your inbox. You can also <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=looper.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:add us as a preferred search source;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">add us as a preferred search source<\/a> on Google.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Read the <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.looper.com\/2024053\/mimic-1997-horror-movie-disaster-guillermo-del-toro-hellboy\/?zsource=yahoo\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:original article on Looper;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">original article on Looper<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Film fans cherish Guillermo del Toro for his powerful storytelling ability and sublime visual language, especially when it comes to monsters. Despite his enviable filmography \u2014 which includes sensational features such as &#8220;Pan&#8217;s Labyrinth,&#8221; &#8220;The Shape of Water&#8221; and &#8220;Frankenstein&#8221; \u2014 del Toro doesn&#8217;t look back on one of his earlier movies too fondly: 1997&#8217;s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2159209,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25173],"tags":[350935,103955,413778,321792,413777,366068,392929,400876],"class_list":["post-2159208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","tag-del-toro","tag-guillermo-del-toro","tag-hellboy","tag-horror-movie","tag-mimic","tag-mira-sorvino","tag-miramax-films","tag-ron-perlman"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/The-Disastrous-1997-Horror-Movie-That-Led-To-Guillermo-Del.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2159208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2159208"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2159208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2159210,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2159208\/revisions\/2159210"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2159209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2159208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2159208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2159208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}