Guillermo Del Toro Says His Time Working With The Weinstein Brothers Was Worse Than When His Father Was Kidnapped

“On the other thing, you knew what they wanted. The Weinsteins, who the f*ck knew what they wanted?”

Guillermo Del Toro has said that his time working with notorious producers Bob and Harvey Weinstein was worse than the time his father has kidnapped and held for ransom.

The Frankenstein director opened up about his experiences making Mimic, his first American film, while receiving Deadline’s inaugural Contenders Hall of Fame Award at the DGA Theatre in Los Angeles on Saturday. Distributed by Miramax and produced by Dimension Films, Mimic was released in 1997 – the same year Del Toro’s father, Federico del Toro Torres, was kidnapped in the Mexican state of Guadalajara and held for a million dollar ransom.

But when asked which experience was worse, DGT didn’t bat an eyelid.

“The Weinsteins, hands down,” the Mexican master of the macabre said, “Because on the other thing, you knew what they wanted. The Weinsteins, who the fuck knew what they wanted?” before going on to note that there were images and moments in Mimic that originated in his production woes, which unfortunately lasted longer than the 72 days his father was held captive.

In the mid ’90s, Del Toro was a hot property after the arthouse success of his black and white Spanish language vampire film, Cronos. Under the Weinsteins, Miramax was the most successful mini-major studio of the time, and seemingly a perfect fit for the emerging auteur.

Unfortunately, clashes over creative direction, which culminated in Harvey Weinstein storming onto the set determined to teach Del Toro “how to direct a movie” made for a painful experience. Weinstein retained final cut and Del Toro has disowned Mimic‘s theatrical cut, although a director’s cut released in 2011 is closer to his original intentions.

As for the fate of Del Toro senior, the ransom was eventually paid with the help of Avatar and Titanic director James Cameron, who hooked GDT up with a professional negotiator to handle the exchange. The perpetrators were never caught, nor was the money recovered.