Guillermo Del Toro Accused of Copycatting, Again

Guillermo del Toro should have been nominated for fewer awards when it comes to The Shape of Water. The film pandered and the plot was subpar. I used to only believe that a mute woman having sex with her pet humanoid goldfish could only be found on DeviantArt fan fiction but I was wrong. Now del Toro is being accused of ripping a dancing scene from the obscure French fantasy film Delicatessen. In true 13-time Oscar nominee form, del Toro is denying all accusations from director Jean-Pierre Jeunet who called him out. Guillermo says he was inspired by Terry Gilliam. I’m also going to call malarky here as he was most likely initially inspired by Japanese porn and then built an entire film around his spank fantasies. Accusations of scene theft from French movies most people never saw was a price he was willing to pay as long as a disabled woman’s love box being impaled by the creature from the Black Lagoon won the hearts of a nation.

The scene in del Toro’s movie features the characters played by Sally Hawkins and Richard Jenkins performing a charming two-step dance while sitting on a sofa watching an old Hollywood movie. Jeunet thinks del Toro stole the moment from a similar one between two children in “Delicatessen.” The French director explained to Ouest-France that he confronted del Toro about the scene.

I can see the similarities between the scenes but for something so small that lasts for less than a minute is it really worth getting upset over? This movie is openly promoting bestiality and the biggest outrage from anyone is over plagiarism. I think we’re all missing the point here.

Photo Credit: Pacific Coast News / Splash News / Backgrid USA