Trivia: There were rumors right up until the release that the film was a prequel to the 2004 superhero movie "Hellboy" - in no small part because both films feature an amphibious man played by actor Doug Jones as one of the lead characters, and both films were also directed by Guillermo del Toro. Despite the widespread speculation, del Toro consistently denied any plot or character associations between "The Shape of Water" and the Hellboy films.
Trivia: Director Guillermo del Toro had worked on the film for some years before it entered production. He stated that part of the inspiration was seeing the movie "The Creature from the Black Lagoon" as a child, and how he felt the film was incredibly tragic due to it having a sad ending for the creature, whom was ultimately innocent and just acting on instinct.
Trivia: Director Guillermo del Toro considers the film to be one of his most personal works, alongside "The Devil's Backbone" and "Pan's Labyrinth." In fact, he has stated that the film was so personal to him, if it had flopped, he was considering retiring from filmmaking altogether to focus on smaller projects. The film, which cost less than $20 million, has grossed nearly $200 million, making it a massive hit in comparison to its relatively tiny budget.
Trivia: Guillermo del Toro wrote the parts of Elisa and Strickland specifically for Sally Hawkins and Michael Shannon. Giles was written for Ian McKellan, who was unavailable, but Richard Jenkins, whom got the part, was del Toro's second choice for the role.
Trivia: The movie was meant to be filmed in Black and White as an ode to its inspirations, including the horror classic "Creature from the Black Lagoon." However, as Black and White is a more niche market for modern films, it ironically ended up being cheaper and more proficient to film the movie in color and turn it B&W during post production. Director Guillermo del Toro fell in love with the look of it, and ultimately decided to keep the color after all instead of post-processing the film to Black and White in editing.
Answer: There are a lot of Hellboy fans who speculate this is an origin story of Abe, or at the very least the Asset is the same species, but del Torro has denied it. Abe is a copyrighted character that del Torro's Hellboy was based on, and he doesn't own the copyright. In addition, prior to The Shape of Water, del Torro was in talks with Universal about remaking "The Creature from the Black Lagoon", only making the movie center on the creature's (Gill-Man) perspective and getting together with Kay (the female lead). Del Torro has stated that the Amphibious Man is based on Gill-Man and this film is what he had pitched to Universal, but was turned down by them. Although, a creature developing a love interest in a human female isn't unique, nor is capturing a creature to study (both happen to Gill-Man, Abe, and Amphibious Man). But the fact that Doug Jones plays both Abe and the Amphibious Man only seems to strengthen theories of some connection to Hellboy, but at this point we only have del Torro's word that it's not and why he choose the creature to be so similar at this point would only be a guess.
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