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22 Del Toro wrote the part of Captain Vidal specifically for actor Sergi López (DIRTY PRETTY THINGS), who joined the project before there was an even a completed script. Explains Torresblanco, “Guillermo knew that he wanted Sergi López to play Vidal; he was totally in love with his work.” She and del Toro traveled to Spain to meet with López and his agent. As she remembers, “We had a fantastic paella and drinks in front of the sea. Sergi asked if he could read the script, and Guillermo said, ‘There is no script. It’s just my idea.’ So he pitched the idea, and Sergi committed. He waited for us for a year to do this movie, actually. He really wanted to work with Guillermo.”
The script more than fulfilled expectations when del Toro completed it the following year. Comments Torresblanco, “Guillermo was processing and processing in his head, and then he was solving the problems and trying to put everything together in the most intelligent and original way. Scene by scene, there is very meticulous thinking. So the moment that he transferred that imagination to paper, everything made sense; there is nothing arbitrary in the movie or script. And it’s a script that makes you cry, you just feel all the emotions there, and the rhythm is incredible. It’s so beautifully written.”
Casting for the film was completed during the three months of pre-production in 2005. Auditions for the central role of Ofelia led the filmmakers to then 11-year-old Ivana Baquero, who had had small roles in a few Spanish films. “Some of the parts were so small that I was never able to spot her. I had to rely on her interview, and she was brilliant,” says del Toro. “I have worked with many, many kids in my life and Ivana is, bar none, the very best actress I have encountered in that range. She is amazing, and an absolute pro.”
Baquero was intrigued by the character. “Ofelia has lived her entire life with her mother in the city, and the fact that she is going to live in a different and strange place scares her. She is surrounded by war and death, and lonely. She’s a very introverted girl, but at the same time very smart and brave. The labyrinth is a door to another world where Ofelia can escape from her stepfather and his violence. She has always read and dreamt about fantasy, fairy tales, fairies, princesses and princes, and now she can make her dreams come true.”
Del Toro handpicked all the adult cast members, who, in addition to López include Maribel Verdú as Mercedes, Ariadna Gil as Carmen, and Doug Jones in the dual roles of the Faun and the Pale Man. They were actors whose work he admired, and with the exception of Jones, he cast them largely against type. “Sergi is brilliant at playing nasty men, though he is very often cast in light comedies. Maribel is often cast as a spunky sex bomb, and Ariadna as an independent, tough, modern woman. I think they all enjoy trying new things, new ways of playing in film,” says the filmmaker. As for Jones, who worked first worked with del Toro on 1997’s MIMIC and went on to HELLBOY’S Abe Sapiens, del Toro states: “For as long as I live and breathe and there’s a monster in my movies, Doug Jones will be there. He is an amazing performer that knows the advantages and limits of all prosthetics and make up.”
López describes Captain Vidal as “the most evil character I’ve ever played in my career. It is impossible to improve upon it; the character is so solid and so well written. Vidal is deranged, a psychopath who is impossible to defend. Even though his father’s personality marked his existence -- and is certainly one of the reasons for his mental disorder -- that cannot be an excuse. It would seem to me very cynical to use that to justify or explain his cruel and cowardly acts. I think it is great that the film does not consider any justification of fascism.”
Verdú’s character, Mercedes, is the closest thing Ofelia has to a confidante. The actress believes that Mercedes recognizes something of herself in the dreamy little girl. “Both Mercedes and Ofelia hide secrets that nobody knows, only they. They are accomplices and live frightened in a world from which they want to escape,” Verdú remarks. “Mercedes is a sad, scared and introverted woman who is quiet and observes. But along the way, she discovers that she actually is incredibly strong -- a fighter.”
With the death of her mother, Ofelia, too, emerges as a fighter. “She feels empty and sad but the birth of her brother gives her a last connection with her mother,” comments Baquero. “She tries to save her brother from Vidal and all the misery around them. She is much braver than Vidal, and she pays a heavy price.”