Los Angeles: Guillermo del Toro today won the Academy Award for the Best Director for his visually-stunning inter-species romance "The Shape of Water", a fitting reward for his life-long obsession with monsters and creatures.  

Having already won at the Golden Globes, DGA, The Critics Choice and the Bafta Awards, the Mexican director was a clear front-runner in the race that had reputed names such as Christopher Nolan ("Dunkirk"), Jordan Peele ("Get Out"), Greta Gerwig ("Lady Bird") and Paul Thomas Anderson for "Phantom Thread".  

This is the fourth time a Mexican has taken home the prize in the last five years, after Alfonso Cuaron won in 2014 for "Gravity" and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu in 2015 and 2016 for "The Birdman" and "The Revenant", respectively.  

Inarritu, Cuaron and del Toro are best friends and often call themselves "Three Amigos".  "I'm an immigrant like Alfonso, Alejandro and Salma (Hayek) and like many many of you. In the last 25 years, I've been living in a country all of our own. The greatest thing our industry does is to erase lines in the sand. We should continue to do that," he said in his acceptance speech.  

Set against the backdrop of Cold War, "The Shape of Water" features Sally Hawkins in one of her strongest roles and del Toro's favourite Doug Jones as the humanoid-amphibian creature.  

The film depicts the unsaid bond between a mute cleaning lady at a government lab and the sea creature, who has been captured from Amazon and kept for experiments in the lab.  

Del Toro's fascination with monsters since childhood is well-documented. When he was 10, he made short horror films with his family playing the victims. In a short film that he made when he was young, the story revolved around a "serial killer potato" that kills his parents but is eventually run over by a car.  

The director's varied filmography, both in Spanish and English, has often reflected on the dark side, illuminating characters that are often derided and looked down upon.  

Monsters, creatures and vampires have always found a special place in his films such as "The Devil's Backbone", Oscar-nominated "Pan's Labyrinth", "Blade II", "Hellboy" and "Pacific Rim". PTI