20th Century Fox has been pushing big for the upcoming animated film The Book of Life by filmmaker Jorge Gutierez. Maybe because it has such a distinct look and feel from other animated films, but it also couldn’t hurt that it was produced by Guillermo del Toro (who has delivered a big hit for their cable network FX with “The Strain.”)
After showing clips from the movie to journalists in sneak previews earlier this month, they also brought some footage to Comic-Con, which you can read about on our live blog of the 20th Century Fox Hall H Presentation.
Diego Luna voices the character of Manolo, a Mexican toreador who is in love with the beautiful Maria (voiced by Zoe Saldana) with some competition from Channing Tatum’s Joaquin, but he soon finds himself on an adventure through three fantastical worlds that he has to escape to get back to Maria. Tatum appeared at the panel, as did Christina Applegate, who acts as the film’s narrator and long-time Guillermo del Toro mainstay Ron Perlman as the voice of the film’s primary antagonist, Xibalbab.
Earlier in the day, ComingSoon.net had a chance to sit down with Gutierez and Guillermo to talk about how they met and how the movie came together, including getting songs like Radiohead’s “Creep” and “Just a Friend” from Biz Markie (who appeared at the panel and sang a few choruses of his popular song, a clip you can watch here).
In the video interview below, you can also see and hear what Guillermo had to say about his planned movie based on DC Comics’ Dark Universe, which we originally reported yesterday.
The Book of Life opens on October 17, just in time for Halloween!
