Guillermo del Toro Inks New Deal with Fox Searchlight

Fresh off his Oscar wins for Best Picture and Best Director for The Shape of Water, Guillermo del Toro has signed a a new deal with that film's producers: Fox Searchlight Pictures.

The studio, which has produced four of the last 10 Best Picture winners, will create a new label for del Toro to produce, write and direct pretty much anything that suits his fancy, especially in genre fare like horror, sci-fi and fantasy, all of which del Toro has excelled at.

The first film under the new banner will be Antlers, from Hostiles director Scott Cooper. That film, based on the short story "The Quiet Boy," is a horror film about a teacher who mentors a difficult student. Nick Antosca, a writer on the excellent Hannibal TV series, will adapt his own story with newcomer Henry Chaisson. J. Miles Dale (The Shape of Water) and David S. Goyer (The Dark Knight) will co-produce with executive producer Kevin Turen (99 Homes).

Guillermo del Toro has yet to announce his next project as writer-director, but will certainly take some time to enjoy his two Oscars.

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About Kip Mooney

Kip Mooney
Like many film critics born during and after the 1980s, my hero is Roger Ebert. The man was already the best critic in the nation when he won the Pulitzer in 1975, but his indomitable spirit during and after his recent battle with cancer keeps me coming back to read not only his reviews but his insightful commentary on the everyday. But enough about a guy you know a lot about. I knew I was going to be a film critic—some would say a snob—in middle school, when I had to voraciously defend my position that The Royal Tenenbaums was only a million times better than Adam Sandler’s remake of Mr. Deeds. From then on, I would seek out Wes Anderson’s films and avoid Sandler’s like the plague. Still, I like to think of myself as a populist, and I’ll be just as likely to see the next superhero movie as the next Sundance sensation. The thing I most deplore in a movie is laziness. I’d much rather see movies with big ambitions try and fail than movies with no ambitions succeed at simply existing. I’m also a big advocate of fun-bad movies like The Room and most of Nicolas Cage’s work. In the past, I’ve written for The Dallas Morning News and the North Texas Daily, which I edited for a semester. I also contributed to Dallas-based Pegasus News, which in the circle of life, is now part of The Dallas Morning News, where I got my big break in 2007. Eventually, I’d love to write and talk about film full-time, but until that’s a viable career option, I work as an auditor for Wells Fargo. I hope to one day meet my hero, go to the Toronto International Film Festival, and compete on Jeopardy. Until then, I’m excited to share my love of film with you.

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