Oscar winner Guillermo del Toro signs overall deal with Fox Searchlight

STUDIO AND “THE SHAPE OF WATER” DIRECTOR TO CREATE NEW LABEL

FOR HORROR, SCI-FI AND FANTASY GENRE PROJECTS

Fox Searchlight Pictures Presidents Stephen Gilula and Nancy Utley announced today that Fox Searchlight Pictures has signed a deal with Academy Award® winning director Guillermo del Toro that covers live action feature film projects to be written, produced and/or directed by del Toro.  Fox Searchlight is also creating a new, soon to be named, label which will serve as a home for projects in the horror, sci-fi and fantasy genres, including those produced and curated by del Toro.  Films will be financed, marketed and distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures.

“For the longest time, I’ve hoped to find an environment in which I can distribute, nurture and produce new voices in smart, inventive genre films and channel my own. In Fox Searchlight, I’ve found a real home for live action production — a partnership based on hard work, understanding of each other and, above all, faith.  After the wonderful experience I had with Fox Searchlight on ‘The Shape of Water,’ I am honored to have the opportunity to continue the relationship. I am more than grateful to Nancy, Steve, David and Matthew for their trust in me and for joining me on this adventure,” said del Toro.

“Throughout the process of ‘The Shape of Water’ coming to life, we have observed first-hand Guillermo at work as a director, a writer, a producer — a creator. We believe in him and the vision for a new Searchlight label and we are eager to embark on this journey with him,” said Utley and Gilula.

“As well as being a brilliant filmmaker, Guillermo is a passionate collaborator, curator and advocate for other artists.  Working with him on this new label, focused on the highest quality projects in the genre space, allows Searchlight to expand our reach to new filmmakers and new audiences around the world,” said David Greenbaum and Matthew Greenfield, Fox Searchlight Pictures’ Co-Heads of Production.

The first film in the pipeline will be ANTLERS, a story about an elementary school teacher who takes in a troubled student that harbors a mysterious family secret with deadly consequences.  The film will be directed by Scott Cooper with a script written by Nick Antosca & Henry Chaisson, based on the short story The Quiet Boy by Nick Antosca.  Guillermo Del Toro, David Goyer, and J. Miles Dale will produce, with Kevin Turen serving as executive producer.

Guillermo del Toro’s most recent film, THE SHAPE OF WATER, was honored with 13 Oscar nominations and won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Score and Best Production Design. In all, the film garnered more than 100 awards including the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and appeared on more than 70 critics’ lists of the year’s best films.

Del Toro earned international acclaim as the director, writer and producer of the 2006 fantasy drama PAN’S LABYRINTH which won three Academy Awards.  He first gained recognition for the 1993 Mexican-American co-production CRONOS, a supernatural horror film, which he directed from his own screenplay after beginning his career working as a special effects makeup artist.

Del Toro’s other films include MIMIC, THE DEVIL’S BACKBONE, BLADE II, HELLBOY, HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY, PACIFIC RIM and CRIMSON PEAK.

Guillermo del Toro was represented by Gary Ungar of Exile Entertainment, Robert Newman of William Morris Endeavor and attorney George Hayum, Esq. from the law firm of Hirsch Wallerstein Hayum Matlof & Fishman LLP.

Fox Searchlight Pictures is a specialty film company that both finances and acquires motion pictures. It has its own marketing and distribution operations, and its films are distributed internationally by Twentieth Century Fox. Fox Searchlight Pictures is a unit of Twentieth Century Fox Film.

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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