Why Guillermo del Toro Plays with Figurines in the Cabinet of Curiosities

“We decided Guillermo was going to do the intros in the grand tradition of anthology with Rod Serling and, one of Guillermo’s persona cinema heroes, Alfred Hitchcock,” Dale tells Den of Geek.

As he has often done over the span of his career though, the Mexican filmmaker and masterful monster-maker provides a creative update on the classic format. In this case, it’s the actual physical prop known as the cabinet of curiosities that gives the show its title.

“We decided on the device we could use of the cabinet to open in strange and mysterious ways and give a little Easter egg – little teasers about what the show is,” Dale says.

In each of Cabinet of Curiosities eight installments, del Toro shuffles onscreen and manipulates the cabinet to reveal an important totem from the story to come. One time it’s an ornate key. Another time it’s a bespoke necklace. And one time it’s even a perfectly ordinary television remote. Of course, the item that del Toro discovers each time in the cabinet of curiosities is merely a part of what makes these intros unique.

For all eight short films, del Toro is sure to mention the name of the director, something that not even Serling or Hitchcock made a habit of doing. Not only that, but del Toro also procures a little doll that approximates that respective director’s appearance. Yes, those funny totems at the beginning of each episode represent the episode’s director!

“Guillermo came up with the idea to do the little statues of the directors which I still laugh about,” Dale says. “The first time he said that I was like ‘are you serious? You pranking me here? With the little statues?’”