Guillermo del Toro is all praises for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for embracing the horror and dark fantasy genre while nominating films such as The Shape of Water and Get Out for multiple Oscars. Del Toro's "The Shape of Water" has bagged the most Academy Awards nominations, 13 in total, this year, while Peel's "Get Out" got four Oscar nods. Both the directors are in contention for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay awards.
"It's a landmark year. I say this because Jordan Peele and myself, through different alchemies, have taken the genre and each brought a very different, very personal take. "I have always been interested in the dark poetics of the genre. And Jordan has evidently been incredibly compelled to tell the story from a different point of view and has elevated it to a parable of social power that I think is unrivaled," del Toro told Entertainment Weekly.
del Toro believes the recognition for the genre was long overdue and it has finally happened this year. "I look at the last 10 years, and I look at things like 'The Babadook', 'Under the Shadow', 'Tigers Are Not Afraid', and 'Let the Right One In'. These are movies that are thematically strong, artistically strong. They are new proponents of this alchemy I mentioned,' del Toro said. "I think the time has come to allow the genre to be part of the conversation," he added.