NYT SYNDICATE

The girl, Elisa (Sally Hawkins), is shy, lonely and mute, and the guy (Doug Jones) ... well, he's an amphibious being, a la the creature from the Black Lagoon. Elisa toils as a cleaning lady at a top-secret, cold-war-era facility in Baltimore where borderline-sociopathic government agent Strickland (Michael Shannon) tortures the seemingly supernaturally powerful"Asset," or"Amphibian Man," hoping to squeeze out of him something that will give America an edge over the Russians, who are plotting to steal him.
"I like to say that I've allegedly wanted to make this movie since I was 6 years old, because I dreamt about a happy ending for the creature of the Black Lagoon when I was watching that movie," the uber-energetic Mexican director Guillermo del Toro said."As a kid, without much thought about the creature and the woman physically, I was hoping they would end up together," del Toro, who turned 53 in October, said as he laughed heartily.
"But where would they live? What would be their sleeping arrangements? That escaped me at age 6," he said."But, you know, I just only wanted the creature to get Julie Adams.
"So, to a point, it's more than 40 years that I've wanted to make this film," del Toro said."Then, actively, it's been at least two decades. And then particularly this idea, since 2011. So six years."
Del Toro ” whose previous credits include Cronos (1993), The Devil's Backbone (2001), Hellboy (2004), Pan's Labyrinth (2006), Pacific Rim (2013) and Crimson Peak (2015) ” described The Shape of Water as a movie"that loves love and loves cinema." Thus it's lush, fantastical and romantic, with a gorgeous Alexandre Desplat score and some classic songs, not to mention such standard del Toro flourishes as startling bursts of violence and blood.
In addition to Oscar-calibre performances by Jones and Hawkins, del Toro has elicited winsome supporting turns from Octavia Spencer and Richard Jenkins. The former plays Elisa's co-worker and loyal friend, Zelda, while the latter co-stars as Zelda's neighbour, Giles, a closeted advertising artist struggling to stay relevant.
Everyone and everything on the screen in The Shape of Water, del Toro argued, serves to shine the spotlight on Elisa and the Asset. Their relationship builds slowly, without dialogue, blossoming from intrigue to love over the course of the film's two-hour running time.
"In my view they recognise each other, even though they come from entirely, impossibly different backgrounds," del Toro said."They recognise an essence. There is an immediate empathy and there is an immediate connection.
"One of the reasons I made Sally's character not a verbal character," he said,"was that I wanted everything to be in the eyes, in the way that they look at each other. They immediately connect like that.
"Also, if you watch the movie again, or if you're paying a lot of attention the first time," he added,"little by little you realise that Elisa's origin may have more points in common with the Amphibian Man (than you realise at first)."
Del Toro went on to profusely praise his leading lady, for whom he wrote the character, and his leading man. Hawkins is the acclaimed, Oscar-nominated British actress whose credits span from Vera Drake (2004) and Happy-Go-Lucky (2008) to Blue Jasmine (2013) and Paddington (2014). Jones, who currently stars on Star Trek: Discovery, is one of Hollywood's go-to creature actors and a frequent del Toro collaborator, having appeared in the filmmaker's Hellboy, Pan's Labyrinth, Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008), The Strain (2014-2016) and Crimson Peak.

Cover Photo : Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro (centre) directs Richard Jenkins and Sally Hawkins (right) in a scene from his new fantasy The Shape of Water.