ANTLERS, from Director Scott Cooper and producer Guillermo del Toro, had its theatrical opening delayed for an entire year because of the pandemic. It is scheduled to open in February of 2021, and please God let them have that vaccine by then so it doesn’t have to be delayed again! While we are forced to wait, we can enjoy what Del Toro and Cooper had to say about the project, courtesy of this linked article.
On the design of the film’s creature, a Wendigo: “The wendigo has very, very specific cues you need to follow,” del Toro said. “The antlers, for example, are a must. I said, ‘We have to remember we’re not creating a monster, we’re creating a god.’ So the design needs to have elements that are completely unnatural, that are almost surreal or abstract… ancient, powerful, and one with nature.”
Said Cooper: “Guillermo thought on a much, much deeper level: If we’re talking about what this murderous spirit is doing, it comes from the center of the earth—its crust, its ore, its ember—the wendigo looks like that…It’s incredibly beautiful design…a costume-animatronic hybrid of techniques…” You hear that? The monster in ANTLERS will be largely practical and not CGI! Huzzah!
Watch the trailer for ANTLERS here.