Guillermo Del Toro Has A Nearly Unrecognizable Cameo In It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia
Guillermo del Toro might be one of the most acclaimed living directors, but he's also a big fan of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia." He loves the show so much that he offered star and co-creator Charlie Day a role in his 2013 action film "Pacific Rim" in exchange for a small cameo on the show. Del Toro has actually appeared in several episodes of the comedy series, but even diligent fans may not have recognized him. As a fan of transformative special effects, the filmmaker's disguise prevented most viewers from recognizing him. Believe it or not, del Toro actually portrays the terrifying patriarch of the McPoyle family, Pappy McPoyle.
The "Pan's Labyrinth" director first appears in the third episode of season 8, "The Maureen Ponderosa Wedding Massacre," which takes place at Dennis' (Glenn Howerton) ex-wife Maureen's (Catherine Reitman) disastrous wedding to Liam McPoyle (Jimmi Simpson). The season was written and shot soon after Day shot his part of "Pacific Rim." Del Toro insisted that he wanted to appear on "Sunny" upon his first meeting with Day, but Day wasn't sure if he was being serious.
"Guillermo is a big 'Sunny' fan and it's why he offered me the part in 'Pacific Rim' and, when I went to meet with him, he said, 'Oh, I want you to be in my movie and in return I'd love to be on 'Sunny,”" Day revealed to CBR. "We joked about it the whole time we were filming because he was beating me up pretty bad day after day and he said, 'Oh, I can't wait to see what you're going to do to me,' but I never knew whether he was totally serious and really wanted to do an episode, or whether that was his way of joking around."
Pappy McPoyle is played by the director of Pinocchio
Day assumed that the "Shape of Water" director might have been pulling his leg when he expressed interest in landing a small role on "Sunny," but the comedian followed up with him anyway. True to his word, del Toro jumped at the chance to join the cast — and he even brought some extra personal touches to the part.
"So when we wrapped the movie and then wrote the season, I sent him an email and said, 'All right, we've got a part for you,'" the "Sunny" co-creator continued, "and he jumped on the opportunity and he even did a little bit of his own make-up in terms of he had a wandering eye, a glass eye, made for the part, which is great."
Practical effects are a big part of del Toro's films, from the prosthetic monsters of "Pan's Labyrinth" to the elaborate sets of "Crimson Peak." Even in a blockbuster like "Pacific Rim," which required lots of CGI, the director managed to ground the film in the material world.
"I had some green screen work, but most of the things I was doing he had built some sort of practical prop that was animatronic that I was reacting to," Day revealed on Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend, "so it wasn't quite like getting stuck into the 'Star Wars' remakes where it's all green screen."
But it wasn't just a glass eye and fake boils that del Toro brought to the role. In his first appearance in "Wedding Massacre," Pappy McPoyle has a single line — which del Toro wrote himself. "[He] had a special line he wanted to say, and we loved it and we kept it and so he was a really great contribution," Day gushed to CBR.
'I told Charlie to give me the most demeaning cameo he could'
Del Toro pushed Day pretty hard on the "Pacific Rim" set, and he insisted on letting the comedian return the favor when he filmed "Sunny." "I told Charlie [Day] to give me the most demeaning cameo he could in the episode and he came up with Pappy McPoyle, and I love — the McPoyles are such great characters," the filmmaker said in a behind the scenes featurette for season 8.
Del Toro envisioned his character as a Zeus-like figure, the patriarch from which the many incestuous McPoyles have descended. "Pappy McPoyle is like Zeus, the originary father of all the McPoyles. They come from his loins like the Titans in Greek mythology and he has to destroy them before they eat him."
This idea made it into the "Wedding Massacre" episode through del Toro's sole line. "The McPoyles sprung from my loins, fully formed!" Pappy exclaims. "One of them babies tried to eat me — I ate him first! I ate him first!" The director invented this lore for the McPoyle family himself, giving further depth to the family's absurdity and their fierce resilience as well. In this family, eating the children is "a tradition."
"In the Appalachian mountains, we spring the children quickly and they provide both company and nourishment," del Toro went on. "It's hard to survive past the age of 10, but once you make it you are fully formed and feral. The McPoyles at 10 are able to kill a bear with their teeth." The Academy Award winner had so many ideas for the McPoyles' backstory that he joked about writing them a spin-off show. "I pitched a whole series to FX called 'Those Crazy McPoyles,' let's see if it takes root," he added.
Pappy's dialogue was improvised by del Toro
Del Toro later reprised his role as Pappy McPoyle in the season 11 episode "McPoyle vs. Ponderosa: The Trial of the Century," which revisits the events of the fateful wedding in season 8. Charlie brings Pappy to the stand as a witness, where he reveals the smoking gun — the family bird, Royal, kept hidden underneath the old man's top hat.
In this episode, Pappy's dialogue is entirely nonsensical. "I have seen ... raccoons and oysters dancing ... in the head of a pin with the angels," he cries. Del Toro later answered questions for a behind-the-scenes interview while still in character, crafting similarly absurd imagery in response to questions about his storied directorial career. "A long piece of skin with a little salt can be a great conversationalist," he mused.
The "Sunny" creators gave del Toro a lot of freedom with his role, allowing him to invent his own dialogue. The set of "Pacific Rim" was not quite as improvisational, but Day liked it that way. "In the beginning of the film, he was saying [...] 'I never do this, but I want you to be loose, and out of control and wild and messy,'" the actor told Conan, "and by the end of the filming he was like 'On take one your hand was here, on take two it was here.' I mean I really enjoyed getting to work within his parameters."
Day learned a lot on the set of Pacific Rim
Even though del Toro didn't give Day as much room to stretch in his performance for "Pacific Rim," the director's experimentation with cinematography ended up influencing Day's creative style behind the camera on the set of "Sunny," and helped him prep for his directorial debut, "Fool's Paradise." Day told Conan:
"The way [del Toro's] mind was working, I was just eating it all up. And then I would go back to 'Sunny' and we'd be shooting [...] and I was saying, 'When we shoot it, we'll do the coverage that Richie Keen — great director — had blocked out.' But I said, 'Hey Richie after we get that, can we do a few 'Guillermo takes' and just circle the camera around the actors,' and just started using more, as I would call them, 'Guillermo takes' throughout the show, and just getting more and more inspired to do more filming and make more things."
This experimentation with camera work is unconventional in sitcoms, but it made for some incredibly dynamic shots that amplified the comedy of the cast's performances. One episode that uses a "Guillermo take" is the "Wedding Massacre" episode, in which del Toro makes his first "Sunny" appearance. Some parts of the horror-filled episode are even shot in the style of "The Blair Witch Project."
Del Toro's subtle cameo is an incredible easter egg for "Sunny" fans, but what's even more striking is just how much he brought to the role himself. Or as Pappy McPoyle might say, "a large piece of onion with a little butter sings better than a large swallow."