Guillermo del Toro has once again made his stance on AI clear, this time while discussing the upcoming re-release of his 2006 film Pan’s Labyrinth. Speaking at San Diego Comic-Con, the Oscar-winning director confirmed that the film’s new 3D and HDR conversion, arriving in theatres for its 20th anniversary, was done entirely by hand, with no artificial intelligence involved in the process.
Addressing the audience directly, Guillermo del Toro said, “Obviously, I said, Absolutely no goddamn AI,” a line that was met with loud cheers from the crowd. He added that the choice came at a cost, since traditional restoration methods take far longer and cost more money than using AI tools, but that the tradeoff was worth it to him. “It’s much more expensive. I don’t care. The thing is, what we’re protecting is the beauty and the redeeming power of art,” he said.
Guillermo Del Toro explained that when it came to converting the film into 3D, he had two options: do it quickly, or do it properly. He chose the second path, saying every part of the process was handled by real people rather than automated tools. “You have to put in time. You have to do every element by hand. A human made a decision of depth,” he said. He also spoke more broadly about why he feels this matters for the film industry, arguing that relying on AI risks cutting off an entire generation of artists from learning their craft properly.
Pan’s Labyrinth originally released in 2006 and is set during the Spanish Civil War, blending a dark historical setting with a fantasy story about a young girl who discovers a hidden magical world. The film went on to win three Academy Awards and remains one of del Toro’s most celebrated works. The newly restored 3D and HDR version will return to theatres on October 9, marking the film’s 20th anniversary.
This isn’t the first time Guillermo del Toro has personally paid a price to protect his vision. During the making of the original Pan’s Labyrinth, when the production ran short on money, he put in his own directing fee to make sure the film could be finished the way he wanted. That same willingness to prioritize the work over the cost shows up again in his approach to the 3D conversion, and it lines up with his broader filmmaking style, including his hand-crafted, frame-by-frame stop-motion film Pinocchio, which he has described as another example of valuing slow, human decision-making over speed.
Guillermo del Toro also looked back at how difficult it was to get the original film made, revealing that even his own crew doubted his vision at times. He recalled that seeing a faun appear in the middle of a story about civil war left many crew members confused, with some openly questioning his choices during filming. He said the moment he truly felt confident in the film was while shooting the scene involving the Pale Man, one of the movie’s most memorable creatures.
This isn’t the first time Guillermo del Toro has spoken out against AI in filmmaking. He has previously said generative AI is only capable of producing “semi-compelling screensavers” and nothing more meaningful. In an earlier interview with NPR, he went even further, saying he would “rather die” than use the technology in his work, and that he hopes to remain uninterested in AI for the rest of his career.
Alongside the re-release news, Guillermo del Toro also teased a new documentary exploring how the original Pan’s Labyrinth was made. The documentary is set to include appearances and commentary from actors Jacob Elordi, Cate Blanchett, and Charlie Day, giving fans a closer look at the film’s creation nearly two decades later.
With a big anniversary re-release on the way and a documentary already in the works, del Toro’s comments make clear that Pan’s Labyrinth’s return to theatres will lean entirely on traditional filmmaking craft, standing as his latest and most public pushback yet against the growing use of AI in the film industry.
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