GUILLERMO DEL TORO originally wanted CHARLIE DAY as BADDIE in ‘PACIFIC RIM 2.’
File under: if only the movie didn’t make like $7. At some point, somewhere, in his beautiful mind, Guillermo Del Toro wanted Charlie Day to be the villain of the second Pacific Rim. I can see it. Fanboy kaijuu guy turns mad scientist guy person thing. Here is hoping the movie continues to draw overseas, and Del Toro still has this trajectory in mind.
Unless you’re The Asylum with “Atlantic Rim,” the task of realizing monsters battling aliens is an enormously pricy one, and with Guillermo Del Toro’s $190 million effort “Pacific Rim” gathering only close to $90 million domestic thus far, it may not be one worth pursuing again for Warner Bros. But as we saw last week, overseas audiences turned out in droves to see the flick, reigniting talks of a possible sequel once more, and now a small tidbit from actor Charlie Day has hinted as to its possible direction.
Talking with Crave Online (via Shock Til You Drop), Day touched on his early meetings with Del Toro about the project, and the director’s overall plans for his nerdy scientist character, Newt. “[He] liked the idea of Newt becoming a bit of a villain in the second film,” Day said. “But, I think over the course of making the film, and the way the character resonated with the audience, I don’t think he would want to turn him into a villain now.” In the original, Day collaborated with co-worker Hermann Gottlieb (Burn Gorman) to discover the prime weakness of the Kaiju, and help bring them down.