Exclusive: PACIFIC RIM Storyboards and Interview with Rob McCallum

Check out exclusive Pacific Rim storyboards by Rob McCallum!

Pacific Rim has grossed $344,684,273 worldwide and is a certified hit. It was a slow start, but Guillermo del Toro's "Robots vs. Monsters" film is finally being recognized for it's brilliance.

I interviewed storyboard artist Rob McCallum a little after the film came out, but it took Rob a while to get the studio to allow him to share his work on the movie. He said he'd keep trying though and was willing to go so far as email Guillermo del Toro himself!

His persistence paid off and we can finally share these exclusive storyboards from Pacific Rim with you. Also, you can find out why he had to sit down with concept designer Wayne Barlowe and the "first rule" of working with del Toro.

Rob McCallum is a professional concept and storyboard artist who's worked on Hollywood films like The Thing (2011), Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004) and Total Recall (2012).

Check out the rest of the pictures after the jump (click to enlarge).

Thanks for joining me Rob! What storyboards did you work on for the film?
I did storyboards for the opening of the film, the first battle, and a good chunk of the end. I drew a few other sequences scattered throughout the film in various forms and I also did a few little bits of concept stuff.

Guillermo knows what he wants so he would sit and sketch out the panels into a yellow legal pad and send me off to draw them. He was open to ideas and suggestions but the rule was "give him what he wants first" and anything else would come after.

Knowing del Toro's style that was probably a safe route to take. Was there a particular scene that was tricky to board?
I remember having a rather tricky time trying to work out the anatomy of the Knifehead Kaiju's head. It took some working out and I ended up sitting Wayne Barlowe down beside me to make sure I had the design right because the boards had to be as accurate as possible.

I've got a toy of it now which would have been handy at the time!

Did del Toro's famous sketchbooks help?
The yellow legal pads became the only sketchbooks that I needed to see. I'd see him drawing in the famous sketchbooks and he gave me a look on more than one occasion but I don't read Spanish and suspect that the stuff in there was all for ideas down the line. The man's always working!

Where can we see your work next?

I did work on Robocop (2014) and a few other things I probably can't talk about. I'm currently on Frankenstein being directed by fellow "Scot" Paul McGuigan.

You can see a full slideshow of all the storyboards below.

See more of Rob McCallum's work at http://www.mccallumart.com/

Click on the links if you want to see more of Rob McCallum's designs and Pacific Rim artwork on my blog.

What do you think of the storyboards and the interview?

Official PACIFIC RIM Synopsis
When legions of monstrous creatures, known as Kaiju, started rising from the sea, a war began that would take millions of lives and consume humanity’s resources for years on end. To combat the giant Kaiju, a special type of weapon was devised: massive robots, called Jaegers, which are controlled simultaneously by two pilots whose minds are locked in a neural bridge. But even the Jaegers are proving nearly defenseless in the face of the relentless Kaiju. On the verge of defeat, the forces defending mankind have no choice but to turn to two unlikely heroes-a washed up former pilot (Charlie Hunnam) and an untested trainee (Rinko Kikuchi)-who are teamed to drive a legendary but seemingly obsolete Jaeger from the past. Together, they stand as mankind’s last hope against the mounting apocalypse.

Directed by Guillermo del Toro.

Starring: Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, Ron Perlman, Robert Kazinsky, Max Martini, Clifton Collins, Jr., Burn Gorman, Larry Joe Campbell, Brad William Henke, Diego Klattenhoff 
Cinematography by Guillermo Navarro
Production Design by Andrew Neskoromny, Carol Spier

Official Site: pacificrimmovie.warnerbros.com/

Release date: July 11, 2013

© 2013 Copyright Legendary Pictures