Guillermo Del Toro Reveals Why He Didn’t Direct ‘Pacific Rim’ Sequel, Says He Never Saw Final Film: ‘That’s Like Watching Home Movies From Your Ex-Wife’

Guillermo del Toro revealed he had to drop out of directing the sequel to his 2013 kaiju blockbuster Pacific Rim due to scheduling conflicts with The Shape of Water.

The director walked away from 2018s Pacific Rim Uprising as a result of significant delays caused by a producers late payment on Toronto soundstages, Del Toro revealed to Collider in a recent interview.

We were getting ready to do it, it was different from the first, but it had a continuation of many of the things that I was trying to do. Then what happened is I mean, this is why lifes crazy, right? they had to give a deposit for the stages at 5 p.m. or we would lose the stages in Toronto for many months, Del Toro said. So, I said, Dont forget were gonna lose the stages, and five oclock came and went, and we lost the stages. They said, Well, we can shoot it in China. And I go, What do you mean we? Ive gotta go doShape of Water.

Pacific Rim Uprising was ultimately directed by Steven S. DeKnight. Although Del Toro had intended for Pacific Rim to be the beginning of a franchise, the sequel received middling reviews.

Its a behind-the-scenes change thats felt in ways both big and small, as this second entry in the franchise ditches, or downgrades, many of the elements that made del Toros original unique, while reconfiguring its style and attitude to more closely align with that of the Transformers films a makeover that not only renders this follow-up unremarkable, but suggests (given the underwhelming box-office performance of Michael Bays last Hasbro-based effort) diminished long-term prospects with robot-fatigued audiences, reads Varietys Pacific Rim Uprising review.

While Del Toro is credited as an executive producer on the sequel, he admits he never saw Pacific Rim Uprising.

I didnt see the final movie because thats like watching home movies from your ex-wife. It is terrible if theyre good and worse if theyre bad, or the opposite. You dont wanna know, Del Toro explained. So, I didnt see it. I did read the final script, and it was very different. Some of the elements were the same but very different.