Watch Director Guillermo del Toro Introduce “Pan’s Labyrinth” for the Hollywood Theatre’s Streaming Series

Since March, Hollywood Theatre has been cranking out recommendations for streamable movies for a series called Hollywood at Home.

Each recommendation is introduced in a video the movie theater publishes on its YouTube channel. So far, most have been delivered by Hollywood Theatre programmers and board members.

But for its newest recommendation, Pan's Labyrinth, the intro was delivered by an unexpected guest—the movie's director, Guillermo del Toro.

"The best fairy tales contain a deeper message and are highly political and highly violent," says del Toro, who also directed The Devil's Backbone, Pacific Rim and Best Picture Oscar winner The Shape of Water. "I wanted to make a fable about the difficult things you face in making choices and how choice defines who you are, and therefore a movie that would be perennial. It was good then and it's good now."

True—and it's hard to think of a better role model than Mercedes.

According to Halsted, he simply reached out to del Toro to ask if he'd be up for recording an intro, and the filmmaker agreed.

"He hasn't been to the Hollywood," Halsted told WW in an email, "but he knows about the theater and our programming."

Dead End Drive-In, the first Hollywood at Home recommendation, was introduced by director Brian Trenchard-Smith, and Halsted says the series will feature more filmmaker cameos in the future.

This Saturday, you can also catch an encore screening of Shogun Assassin with live commentary by Halsted and Wu-Tang Clan leader RZA via 36 Cinema.

Related: What Will Movies Look Like Post-Pandemic? Hollywood Theatre's Dan Halsted Suspects the Marvel Era Might Be Over.