Academy Award-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro (The Shape of Water) hopes his horror anthology series Cabinet of Curiosities gets a second season. If it does, he already has an idea who he’d like to invite to direct the next batch of episodes.
“I have a list,” del Toro told IndieWire. “I could go and spoil the entire second season for you, but I’m not going to do that.”
Instead, what del Toro did was throw out a few names that were supposed to come on board for the first season but ended up not being able to for various reasons. For example, he said he wanted Guatemalan filmmaker Jayro Bustamante (La Llorona) to direct an episode, but he was unable to “because of COVID.”
Del Toro also said filmmaker Issa Lopez (Tigers Are Not Afraid) and Boots Riley (Sorry to Bother You) were lined up to join him for season 1, but they were offered other projects. While del Toro didn’t confirm he would be inviting Bustamante, Lopez or Riley to a hypothetical second season, he did name one director that was “100 percent at the very, very top of my list” for a season 2. That director is Larry Fessenden (Depraved).
“Larry is one of those names that back in the days of the Spirit Awards, I fought for him to be nominated [for his film] Habit, which I think is phenomenal,” he said. “I’ve been in touch with him since then.”
Throughout his career, del Toro has given young directors the support to create the movies they wanted – from Jorge Gutierrez with Book of Life to Andy Muschietti with Mama to Juan Antonio Bayona with The Orphanage. With an anthology series, however, Guillermo del Toro said he can help more directors at a quicker pace.
“I enjoy that role because some of the filmmakers had less than optimal experiences,” he said. “If I can do something to usher in a variation of the genre, I like it. It was absolute madness to make this series.”
Cabinet of Curiosities season one is currently streaming on Netflix.