Guillermo del Toro Tells Robert Rodriguez He Learned Set Design by Watching Opera (Exclusive Video)

“If you can live without it, leave it behind,” the “Pacific Rim” director tells the El Rey chief on “The Director’s Chair”

Guillermo del Toro The Director's Chair

When you own a network, you can pretty much do whatever you want. Robert Rodriguez is clearly taking advantage of that fact on his El Rey Network.

“The Director’s Chair” is an hour-long intimate conversation between Rodriguez (“Sin City”) and another top director, which has the two sitting in chairs and talking about directing, obviously.

In the below clip, exclusive to TheWrap, Rodriguez welcomes Guillermo del Toro (“Pacific Rim”) to the program, with a little assist from Francis Ford Coppola (“The Godfather”).

Also read: Robert Rodriguez, Bob Orci and Gabriel Luna on Gauging ‘Matador’s’ Success Without Ratings

Coppola asked del Toro to explain how he tamps down his vivid imagination to focus on the essentials with regard to set design.

“If you can live without it, leave it behind,” del Toro answered.

Also read: Robert Rodriguez Describes His Talk With President Obama

The executive producer of FX’s “The Strain” told Rodriguez that he learned set design from looking up at opera stages. “Each set has one statement,” del Toro shared. “For example, in ‘Pan’s Labyrinth,’ the Captain’s Room is a giant gear with other gears next to it.”

He concluded, “What part of the set is telling the story? That’s the part you have focus everything [on].”

Also read: Guillermo Del Toro Redesigns ‘Pacific Rim’ For Virtual Reality

Next month, Rodriguez welcomes Quentin Tarantino in a two-part episode.

“El Rey Network Presents: The Director’s Chair” is produced by Troublemaker Studios and Skip Film in association with FactoryMade Ventures. Executive producers are Rodriguez, Skip Chaisson, John Fogelman and Cristina Patwa.

“The Director’s Chair” with Guillermo del Toro airs Wednesday at 9 p.m.

Watch the video:

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