Guillermo del Toro directed The Shape of Water, which bagged 13 Oscar nominations, has earned much-anticipation since it's release. Now many will be amazed to know that the American fantasy drama has shared an emotional connection with HBO drama Game of Thrones.
Sounds impossible, right?
But yes, it is true. It is the screenwriter who has written the scripts of Game of Thrones and The Shape of Water as well — Vanessa Taylor. She wrote the scripts for the second and third seasons of Game of Thrones.
Besides being a writer, Taylor was also a co-executive producer on HBO's Game of Thrones, told Variety that she felt "nothing but gratitude" to be part of the project and attributed her involvement to "Game of Thrones."
The film and the HBO series are both very different from each other. Taylor said it may seem different, but for her, both the projects are somehow connected emotionally.
"But the things I love about 'Game' are the things I love about this movie. Both use genre elements to explore the idiosyncrasy of human emotions," said the 47-year-old. "And even though 'Game' is set in a time and place that are foreign, it's very relatable. It's the same with 'Shape of Water.' I think that's why Guillermo hired me — though actually, I never asked him!"
Vanessa Taylor remembered her first meeting with the director. She told Variety, "He already had a lot of the romance; he had been thinking about that part of the story for a long time. He knew what he wanted there."
During one of their first few meetings, they "talked about the idea of the film through the prism of these outsiders. The film is full of people who are disenfranchised. The love story is two people who are not speaking, but are actually communicating more than anybody else."
The fantasy drama that reflects del Toro's skillful demonstration of "love renders you mute", revolves around a love story between Elisa (Sally Hawkins) and a bizarre aquatic creature (Doug Jones) and both of them cannot speak.
"My only question was: Is the audience going to buy the fact that she's into this creature? Can Guillermo pull this off? But then I realized, he's such a gifted visual storyteller, I'm gonna bet that he can," she quipped.
The Shape of Water — an other-worldly fable, set against the backdrop of Cold War-era America circa 1962. In the hidden high-security government laboratory where she works, lonely Elisa (Sally Hawkins) is trapped in a life of isolation. Elisa's life is changed forever when she and co-worker Zelda (Octavia Spencer) discover a secret classified experiment.
The movie, which bagged several Oscar nods and many prestigious awards as well, has recently been slapped with a copyright infringement lawsuit just prior to the final Oscar voting begins.
