A seductive stranger with a stack of secrets,
a mysterious mansion, and an aspiring American author all feature in director Guillermo del Toro's
gothic romance Crimson Peak. I'm Jan and this is 10 things you probably
didn't know about Crimson Peak. Director Guillermo del Toro wrote 10-page
character biographies for Jessica Chastain, Mia Wasikowska, and Tom Hiddleston. The in-depth biographies included details
such as the character's upbringing, relationships with their parents,
favorite smells, and secrets, all of which del Toro told each actor
to keep to him or herself. The information not only helped
the stars prepare for their roles, but also ensured they were
on the same page as del Toro when it came to understanding
their character's actions, influences, and motivations. When Tom Hiddleston replaced Benedict Cumberbatch
in the role of Thomas Sharpe, Guillermo del Toro rewrote the script. According to del Toro, before
Hiddleston joined the Crimson Peak cast, Thomas was originally
going to be a much colder character. On top of Del Toro's character biography, Hiddleston found inspiration in a series of mood boards created by costume designer Kate Hawley, which he placed around
his trailer during filming. The boards included pictures of English poet
Lord Byron, Victorian engineers and miners, and a painting called Wanderer Above The Sea Of Fog by German Romantic artist Caspar David Friedrich. When del Toro first sent Jessica Chastain
the script for Crimson Peak, he assumed she'd want to play the main character
Edith, an aspiring American author. But Chastain was more interested in the role
of the mysterious antagonist, Lucille, who's the sister of
Tom Hiddleston's character, Thomas. Crimson Peak was
a tough shoot for Chastain, as not only did she have to get into the dark
headspace necessary to play Lucille, but she was also filming A Most Violent Year
at the same time. So, when it was time to shoot
an especially adrenaline-charged scene, Del Toro suggested Chastain drink several
large espressos to get in the right mood! Oh, and by the way, Chastain also learnt
to play the piano for the film! Not long after Charlie Hunnam finished filming
Pacific Rim with Guillermo del Toro, the director sent Hunnam an email
asking him to star in Crimson Peak. From then on in, Hunnam and del Toro
worked together to create a biography for Hunnam's character, a young American
doctor called Alan McMichael. The one thing Del Toro wasn't keen on
that Hunnam suggested was that Dr McMichael
should be a pipe-smoker. According to Hunnam, the reason was that
del Toro didn't want to add pipe-smoking to the list of things he had to fight
the studio to get on screen. The movie's ghosts were played by actors
Doug Jones and Javier Botet, whose physical presence on set
really helped the movie's leads as it gave them something
real to react to. The transparent look of the ghosts
was later added with CGI. Jones and Botet have both brought a number
of creatures to life in Del Toro's previous productions, including Pan's Labyrinth,
Hellboy, and Mama. To bring to life the gothic mansion
Allerdale Hall, aka Crimson Peak, a huge set was built
at Pinewood Toronto Studios. It took 6 months to design and
build the three-and-a-half-storey set, which not only had a working elevator,
but also functioning fireplaces. The mansion's rooms were
linked by hallways, which meant the camera could move
seamlessly around the house and del Toro could avoid having to
digitally stitch scenes together in post-production. The only room that wasn't connected
to the main mansion set was the bedroom. One of the only parts of the house
that needed green screen was the hole in the ceiling
in order to show the sky. Although the mansion's floor
looks like it's made of wood, it was actually made of
especially strong concrete, so it could withstand the volume of crew
moving about throughout the shoot. The Crimson Peak mansion
is del Toro's favourite set, so he was particularly sad
when it had to be taken apart after filming. Some of the pieces of furniture made
for the movie were built in two different sizes, one bigger and one smaller. So, when Del Toro wanted to emphasise the fact
that a character was weak in a particular scene, they'd use the larger sized furniture on set. However, if he wanted to make
the character appear stronger, he'd use the smaller version
of the piece of furniture. The word "Fear" and the motif
of butterflies versus moths are hidden throughout the design of the house,
including in the custom-made wallpaper. Del Toro has been fascinated by butterflies
and moths since he was a child and used them to allude to the differences between
the film's two main female characters, Lucille and Edith. When Del Toro and his co-writer Matthew Robbins
were penning the Crimson Peak script, they were inspired by an array of novels
including Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights, Charles Dickens' Great Expectations,
Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, and one of Del Toro's favourite gothic novels,
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's Uncle Silas. In fact, the character Mia Wasikowska
plays in Crimson Peak is named Edith after American author Edith Wharton,
whose novels include The Age Of Innocence. And given Del Toro's love of Frankenstein and the fact that author Mary Shelley
is mentioned in the film, it's quite possible that Edith's surname Cushing
is a reference to actor Peter Cushing, who played Frankenstein
in many Hammer Horror movies. Now, let me know in the comments below,
which are your favourite Guillermo del Toro movies? And what are the spookiest stories
you've seen on screen? If you enjoyed this video, do please share it,
hit the thumbs-up button and subscribe for more things you didn't know,
as well as movie reviews and interviews. Thanks for watching and see ya next time.
Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers!
