>>FEATURE
PAN’S LABYRINTH
STARRING Ivana Baquero, Doug Jones and Sergi Lopez
DIRECTED Guillermo del Toro
Doug Jones has portrayed a bounty of surreal characters over his career, appearing in 40 feature films – animating characters ranging from comic book anti-hero (HellBoy) to roach monster (Mimic), and the Silver Surfer in the soon to be released Fantastic Four franchise.
Speaking on the phone from his home in Los Angeles, he has a disarmingly candid demeanour for someone who often spends long days in disguise. As the man behind both the mystifying Pan and the terrifying Pale Man, Jones had to endure hours of makeup and prosthetics during production of Pan's Labyrinth.
"You become a hospice patient," he says with a laugh. "Your senses are dulled and lessened. I had to have help getting to the bathroom."
Part of what makes his work so exemplary in this film is his convincing delivery of his Spanish lines, even though he doesn't speak the language.
"It was intimidating learning the Spanish dialogue," he says, adding he had to memorize his lines in Spanish along with those of Ivana Baquero. Jones says it was additionally challenging for him to hear through all the padding and makeup.
Jokingly self-described as "athletically skinny" (he's 1.91 metres and weighs 64 kg), he admits it is exhausting carrying around the extra weight of elaborate costumes and makeup. This is Jones’s third time working with Guillermo del Toro, he also portrayed one of the creepy roach-creatures in Mimic and Abe Sapian in HellBoy, the feature based on the popular comic. When del Toro asked him to participate, Jones read the script in one night and knew instantly he wanted to be a part of the film.
"He touches the human condition and I love that about his storytelling," Jones says.
The vibe on-set was lighthearted, to take the edge off the darkness of the task at hand. "He yells ‘excrement’ instead of action," Jones says of del Toro. "He's trilingual. He speaks English, Spanish and potty mouth."
Jones’s sense of humour is consistent, even when describing some unsettling moments. In one of the film's more gruesome scenes, the Pale Man snatches and consumes two fairies.
"When I captured them and bit off their heads, it was condoms filled with fake blood so when I bit into them, blood squirted everywhere," he explains, adding, "They had a sickly sweet taste."
Prop jokes aside, Jones notes the most disturbing scenes in Pan's Labyrinth are necessary and timely.
"It's horror for reality's sake. You had to see the horror so by the time the film ends you see what a monster he is (Vidal). "In childhood, we all have monsters. Some of them are real as in abusive parents, others are in our minds. We have a choice to overcome them. Some people choose to carry them into adulthood." |
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