Attention to detail is an important aspect of good filmmaking and perhaps the most important thing to filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, whose brand of thoughtful fantasy and dark drama always has the most meticulous design, from costumes, to sets, to props. He’s made a name for himself with not only films featuring creatures (often played by Doug Jones) but recreations of very specific historical periods, from Spain in 1939 and 1944 in The Devil’s Backbone and Pan’s Labyrinth, respectively, to 1887 New York and England in Crimson Peak. With The Shape of Water, del Toro has turned his attention to 1962 Baltimore, and the entire creation of the film is outlined in the new book Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water: Creating a Fairy Tale for Troubled Times.

The new book from Insight Editions–which will be released on December 19–chronicles the entire filmmaking journey of del Toro and company, from development and design to filming and editing. Written by veteran entertainment journalist Gina McIntyre, this deluxe book offers extensive interviews and commentary from actors and members of the creative team and gives you an up-close view of the amazing concept art and design work created specifically for the film.

In our exclusive look at pages from the book, we can see full dossiers of three of the main characters from the film, each with their own concept art and character themes. These include Eliza Esposito (played by Sally Hawkins), the brutal government agent Richard Strickland (played by Michael Shannon), and Giles DuPont (played by Richard Jenkins), and each page gives insight into the characters with interview blurbs and specific pieces of design. For instance, note the charcoal drawings of the Amphibian Man done by Giles in the movie, actually done by illustrator Natalie Hall.

Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water: Creating a Fairy Tale for Troubled Times contains a foreword by del Toro himself and the whole thing offers the most concise and thorough way to go inside his latest work, and would look quite nice next to all those other gorgeous tomes about del Toro and his films.

Images: Insight Editions

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