Guillermo del Toro has established himself as a filmmaker with a distinct and unique style. The empathy and depth he brings to his on-screen monsters show his love for the horror genre. They also reflect the respect he has for the authors whose stories shaped his childhood.In the latest news involving the esteemed director, he attended the recent Gotham Awards to receive the Vanguard Tribute. The honor was for his work on his latest feature film Frankenstein, which is available on Netflix. The movie has received near-universal praise, and Guillermo del Toro used his platform on the Gotham Awards stage to convey a strong message about AI:“The artistry of all of them shines on every single frame of this film that was willfully made by humans, for humans. It belongs to all of them, and I would like to extend our gratitude and say, ‘f*ck AI.’”Guillermo del Toro made sure to leave no misunderstanding in his short and simple take on AI, a sentiment shared by many creatives. It is an interesting conversation to have, as several films over the past year have been called out for leaning on the tool. While there is tremendous pushback regarding the extent of its influence, it seems a regulatory body may need to be put in place to mitigate creators from overuse.Guillermo del Toro: A love letter to FrankensteinInterestingly, Mary Shelley’s writing influenced Guillermo del Toro from an early age. The renowned director shared that he read Frankenstein as an 11-year-old boy, and it changed his entire perspective on the world thereafter.“I understood … through her work and the first glimpse of Boris Karloff, that I did not belong in the world the way my parents, the way the world, expected me to fit. That my place was in a far away land inhabited only by monsters and misfits. They have been my kin ever since.”The acclaimed filmmaker then went on to add the value his actors brought to their roles as a result of their nuanced understanding of Shelley’s source material:“Working with artists as extraordinary as Oscar and Jacob has been truly one of the greatest privileges of my life, and in them, I found another family. They don’t play archetypes. They dramatize the human condition and longing for a connection in a world that misunderstands them, both of them, and a world where pain only begets pain, which is, sadly, so urgent now, until someone decides to stop it.”While Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein has been a resounding success, it remains to be seen what’s next for the director.