The Art Directors Guild will present Oscar-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro with the William Cameron Menzies Award, to honor his visually striking and emotionally rich body of work. Del Toro will receive the award at the 27th ADG’s Excellence in Production Design Awards on Saturday, February 18 at the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown.
Del Toro first gained recognition for writing and directing Cronos, which premiered at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Mercedes Benz Award, and went on to earn more than 20 international awards. Del Toro’s most noted films include Pan’s Labyrinth, which garnered Academy Awards for Art Direction, Cinematography, and Makeup and The Shape of Water, which won the Venice International Film Festival’s Golden Lion as well as Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Production Design and Best Score. His latest project, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, continues his lifelong love of animation and stop-motion filmmaking. Additional credits include The Devil’s Backbone, Hellboy, Pacific Rim, Crimson Peak, and Nightmare Alley.
Del Toro is also a prolific producer of animated films and television. Among his EP credits are Kung Fu Panda 2 and 3, Puss in Boots 1 and 2, and Rise of the Guardians; his producing credits include The Book of Life.
Past recipients of the Menzies award include Robert Osborne, John Musker and Ron Clements, Syd Mead, and Denis Villeneuve.
“Guillermo del Toro has stunningly brought humanity to non-human characters and full-fledged existence to environments which could be seen as devoid of life by integrating strong narrative imagery into his collaborations with production designers,” said Coates. “The Art Directors Guild is thrilled to celebrate his captivating work, which has indelibly pushed the bounds of production design to new heights.”
