SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) — Guillermo del Toro is an acclaimed master of horror and has built a huge memorabilia collection throughout his decades-long career. A close brush with California’s devastating wildfires has led him to do what was once unthinkable — auction some of the 5,000 items in his prized collection.
The Mexican-born filmmaker is auctioning hundreds of items ranging from works by comic luminaries like Jack Kirby and Richard Corben to exclusive items from his own classics like “Cronos” and “Hellboy.”
Online bidding opened Thursday for the Sept. 26 auction, which is the first of a three-part series with Heritage Auctions.
“Whoever buys or gets it is going to love it as much,” del Toro said while showing off some of the items up for sale to The Associated Press during a tour of his so-called Bleak House. “That’s all you can do with your kids — sort of plan for them to have a good life after you.”
Here’s a look at the pieces del Toro says he struggled the most to let go of.
Bernie Wrightson’s “Frankenstein”
When del Toro’s Bleak Houses were endangered by wildfires, he focused on securing just a few items: his diaries, some of his awards — and Bernie Wrightson’s “Frankenstein” illustrations.
The collector is auctioning two original art pieces from the 50 pen-and-ink drawings that Wrightson created for the 1983 illustrated version of Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein.”
The possibility of those items perishing in a fire “weigh so heavily on me, because that’s his masterpiece,” del Toro said.
“Frankenstein” marked the start of del Toro’s lifelong passion for monsters. The filmmaker adapted the classic horror story for Netflix and it will arrive on the streaming platform in November.
One of Wrightson’s pieces, with a starting bid of $200,000, depicts the creature hiding near a stream. The other, starting at $100,000, portrays Victor Frankenstein’s pursuit of the creature.
“My eyes are going to start twitching,” he said. “Those two were pretty brutal.”
Mike Mignola’s “Hellraiser”
There was only one item that Mike Mignola — a celebrated comic book writer and del Toro’s longtime friend — didn’t know was a part of the Bleak House collection. It happened to be one of his own.
Del Toro is parting with an original pinup artwork that Mignola drew in the late 1980s for “Hellraiser #2,” Clive Barker’s comic series, before they were adapted into movies in the 1990s.
The director said he was a fan of the “Hellraiser” comics, and this particular piece was the precursor that led to Hellboy, a superhero that Mignola created in the 1990s. Del Toro later wrote and directed the “Hellboy” movies.
The item, with a starting bid of $40,000, is described in the auction catalog as “one of the greatest artworks” in del Toro’s collection. It was also one that took the longest to secure, he said.
“There’s a few items that are very hard to find. The Hellraiser cover was exceedingly hard.”
The art behind “Pan’s Labyrinth”
Before the reality of budget constraints set in, the film sets for the 2006 dark fantasy “Pan’s Labyrinth” spread much wider in the minds of del Toro and the illustrators he works with.
He has long kept a tight hold on this art. Now, more than a dozen preproduction art pieces, which have never been up for sale, will be available to the wider public.
The mill compound, which was the heart of the dark fairy tale, for instance, existed on a much larger scale on paper than what made it on screen. That concept sketch drawn by Raúl Monge — one of del Toro’s favorites — has a starting bid of $6,000.
Paint master behind the ghost in “The Devil’s Backbone”
Del Toro had a clear image in mind when developing Santi, the haunting ghost of a murdered orphan that anchors his 2001 horror “The Devil’s Backbone.” He envisioned the ghost’s skull to be cracked like broken porcelain, with haunting eyes and ashen skin, according to the auction catalog.
The production makeup paint master that helped bring his vision to life is being auctioned with a starting bid of $6,000.
Santi is a “signature creature, that I think actually set precedence for a lot of creatures,” del Toro told the AP.
“Hellboy” memorabilia
Over 40 pieces of memorabilia from del Toro’s “Hellboy” movies are being sold. Amid the dozens of illustrations and concept sketches are two one-of-a-kind pieces.
The iconic hero jacket, worn by Ron Perlman, who played Hellboy in the films, went straight from the actor’s back into del Toro’s arms, he said, and is now heading elsewhere with a starting bid of $40,000.
Also up for sale is “Big Baby,” Hellboy’s signature six-round shotgun, which starts at $50,000.
“We couldn’t have many duplicates so the Big Baby is a hero hero hero piece,” del Toro said. “That one hurt.”
Original H.R. Giger artwork for “The Tourist”
One of the highest priced pieces in the auction is H.R. Giger’s concept design for an unproduced science fiction and horror script, “The Tourist.” Giger was a Swiss surrealist artist known for blending human and machine in his work.
The Giger piece is a star in del Toro’s collection and has a starting price of $150,000.
“It was always a really good point in touring the collection to say very casually, and this is a Giger,” del Toro said. “It was a big flex, you, know. Letting go of that big flex is not easy.”
Replica of “Cronos” device
“Cronos” was del Toro’s critically acclaimed filmmaking debut in 1992. He began creating sketches for the movie in the 1980s and one is included in the auction, which he said is likely the only preproduction drawing for the movie he will part with.
The early concept sketch for a skeletal, muscular vampire holding a small pocket watch has a starting bid of $4,000. The pocket watch was later developed into the Cronos device, which gives an elderly man immortality in the film.
“It’s very beautiful to be able to say look this is a ‘Cronos’ design I made when nobody knew what ‘Cronos’ was,” del Toro said.
