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This article is a history page This article contains early or scrapped production information about Legendary Pictures's Pacific Rim, and is intended to work as a history book on the film's development progress. |
Black Maria (La Negra Maria) is the name of a scrapped Jaeger hailing from Mexico. It would've appeared in the Pacific Rim sequel.
Development
While reworking the script and story of Pacific Rim, Guillermo del Toro and Travis Beacham initially included Mexican brothers who piloted the Mark-3 Jaeger, Diablo Intercept. Their story was later removed in the interest of time and character management.[1]
Following the 2014 announcement of the sequel, del Toro emphasized his intent to include more "Mexican stuff" in his later projects going forward.[note 1] At the time, those projects were his FX series The Strain, and the then-upcoming sequel to Pacific Rim.
When discussing the pre-production status of the Pacific Rim sequel during the Guadalajara Film Festival, he explained that he planned to add a Mexican Jaeger named "Black Maria" in the film.[2] In another interview, he reaffirmed that Black Maria would appear in the sequel, and that its pilots would be two brothers from Mexico.[3][note 2]
Later versions of del Toro's script featured Black Maria as the antagonist. It was piloted by two sisters from Tijuana who were assassins.[4][note 3]
Trivia
- In one interview covering the pre-production status of the sequel, del Toro referred to Black Maria as "Le Negra Maria", which (literally) translates to "The Black Maria".
- "Black Maria" is a slang term of New England origin referring to black police vans. The term is reportedly a reference to a Black woman named Maria Lee who ran a boarding house, and helped police with arrests.[5][6]
- According to a GQ magazine interview with Steven S. DeKnight, the idea for Obsidian Fury was based on Black Maria's role as the antagonist in early versions of del Toro's script.[4]
Notes
- ↑ Translation: "[...]He highlighted his effort to include as much Mexican stuff as possible in his films, his idea to include a Mexican Jaeger named Black Maria in Pacific Rim 2, the episode where a fighter, played by Joaquín Cosío, makes an appearance in The Strain and the inclusion of Mexican people in his most recent projects."
- ↑ Translation: "[...]We asked the producer and screenwriter if we will ever see this machine and fortunately he confirmed that it will be in the sequel, Pacific Rim 2 (Titans of the Pacific 2 tentatively), when the expected Mexican Jaeger that will be called "La Negra Maria" (Black Maria) will have its debut and at the same time he assures that it will be manned by two Mexican brothers. Congratulations!"
- ↑ Steven S. DeKnight: "There were some other fantastic ideas that just didn’t quite work. We brought over the idea of a bad Jaeger. In the original scripts, it was called Black Maria. But it was actually piloted by a couple of assassin sisters from Tijuana."
References
- ↑ Guillermo del Toro on the Mexican Jaeger That Didn't Make it into Pacific Rim
- ↑ FICG 2015: Guillermo del Toro presente en el Festival Internacional de Cine en Guadalajara
- ↑ #FICG30: ¿Veremos un Jaeger mexicano en Titanes del Pacífico 2? Guillermo del Toro responde
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Steven DeKnight Went From Pacific Rim Fanboy to Pacific Rim Uprising Director
- ↑ St. Paul Police - "The Black Maria"
- ↑ Black Maria - Oxford Lexico
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