Guillermo del Toro calls Taylor Swift ‘accomplished director’ amid criticism: ‘I have the greatest admiration for her’

Guillermo del Toro came to the defense of Taylor Swift amidst recent online criticism of the singer taking up a place in Hollywood trade magazine Variety’s Director on Director series with Martin McDonagh. Taylor, who has only directed a short film based on her song All Too Well, also announced her untitled directorial debut soon after. Guillermo revealed that the two had chatted recently and he had great admiration for the singer-songwriter. (Also read: Taylor Swift criticised for taking up a spot on Hollywood directors panel, Twitter asks ‘What is this BS?’)

Upset Twitter users had flocked to the Variety announcement sharing their displeasure with Taylor’s selection. One Twitter user commented, “Taylor swift who directed 1 (one) short film in the same lineup as Ryan Coogler and Rian Johnson.” Another tweet read, “What is this BS?????? yt (sic) mediocrity really be prevailing but what do you expect from Hollywood.” Several ‘Swifties’ also defended the singer, making her choice on the panel a divisive topic.

Speaking to W magazine, the Mexican filmmaker stated, “She’s a very accomplished director, she’s incredibly articulate and deep about what she’s trying to do—and what she will do. I have the greatest admiration for her; we had one of the most stimulating and gratifying conversations.”

The unlikely pair also bonded over their love of books. Guillermo added, “We have many, many common interests. And her interest in fable and myth and the origins of fairy tale is quite deep. I gave her a few books that I thought would be interesting for her—among them, very importantly, a book that was useful for me in creating Pan’s Labyrinth called The Science of Fairy Tales, which codifies and talks about fairy tale lore.”

Last week, the Oscar-winning filmmaker attended a museum event in New York City to promote his new stop-motion animated film Pinocchio which is out now on Netflix. There he spoke about his conversation with Taylor and their mutual admiration for one another. They had met up recently to talk in person. Taylor had earlier revealed in another interview with The Hollywood Reporter that she would like to trade places with him for one day. She added that she was floored by his “imagination, visual vocabulary and that astonishing body of work.”