Pan’s Labyrinth
To many, Pan’s Labyrinth is the film that put Guillermo del Toro as the creative genius that he is. While he directed Blade II, and as well as helmed the original Hellboy film, it’s Pan’s Labyrinth that showed the world how creative he can be when he has an original property to work with. That creativity lent itself to two main characters, featured heavily in the trailers of the film.
The first was The Fawn, a creature that serves as a guide for the main character’s journey through the new and mysterious world she finds herself in. The second is the Pale Man, a monster who feeds upon children, and was the most disturbing of the creatures audiences got to see in the film.
Both of them were played by Doug Jones in the film. It was a shocking revelation, especially when you learn that del Toro believed he couldn’t get either character right without Jones’ physical acting prowesses. That’s exactly what ended up happening, as Jones’ physical acting was a tour de force and brought these mystical and at times horrific characters to life.
Without Jones, it’s very likely that the film wouldn’t have had as much emphasis. After all, few can do creepy movements like Jones.