Pan's Labyrinth

Pan’s Labyrinth, directed and written by Guillermo del Toro, is a fairy tale movie with a twist or horror thrown in. The movie is full of amazing scenes, props and costumes that make you wonder how they possibly make such wonderfully horrifying eye candy. Guillermo was very picky with the visual things in this movie. He would tell the people making the sets, the costumes and everything which artists they should look to for inspiration, which goes beyond what most directors do. Then he would constantly tell them to make little changes until it was exactly what he wanted.

Doug Jones is the actor that gets to wear the two most amazing costumes in this movie, the Faun and the pale man. Guillermo didn’t want this Faun to be like most fauns, half man and half goat. Instead he wanted it to look like it was part of nature, that it was one with nature, so he made it have part of a tree trunk, with bark, lower legs in the general shape of goat’s hind legs, the face resembling a human with goat’s antlers. This costume is in several parts. There’s the lower part which is the legs, in which is actual legs stick out of and have to be edited out. Then there is the part that goes over the abdomen, a part that covers the chest and arms, and finally the head. Jones, in his long career in which he has worn many costumes said that this was one of the most comfortable costumes he has ever worn in an interview that is in a special feature on the DVD. The face is very complicated and took a long time to get right. His nose is flattened so that it doesn’t stick out. There are many layers in the upper part of the face to give it the right shape and movement. This costume was difficult to act in because for many scenes Jones has to bend down in the difficult to maneuver costume. In one scene when he is taking to the girl he backs up slowly and then ducks down and vanishes, which is very difficult to do while speaking a language that Jones doesn’t know.

The pale man is also an amazing costume. Guillermo described this costume as an old man that was very fat but then lost most of the weight so that he was just skin and bones with super saggy skin. This costume was difficult because it is made of both foam and silicon, which then have to blend evenly. At first the creature had a face but later Guillermo decided that it look much better if it didn’t have any facial features, and had eyes in his hands. Doug Jones legs and edited out so that you only see the thin legs that look no more than skin and bones. The creature moves in a horrifying manor in which his hand with the eye in it leads the way, so which Jones’ great acting the amazing costume this scene is unforgettable.

I got all of this information from the special feature on the DVD called "Pan the The Fairies"