Continue Reading Below Advertisement

"Flip ya, motherfuckah, d'you shpeak ih."

Director Bryan Singer thought that Del Toro was fucking around at first, but eventually he approached him and awkwardly asked, "Is that the way you're going to do it? For the whole movie?" Which is exactly the kind of feedback every actor hopes to receive from a director on set. After confirming that Del Toro wasn't having a stroke or something, he decided to run with it and see what happened. But the other cast members were no less confused. According to Stephen Baldwin, the first time he shared a scene with Del Toro and heard him speak, he was so perplexed that he forgot his next line and just turned to Singer and gave a "What the fuck?" gesture.

MGM

Continue Reading Below Advertisement

Which is usually a look other Baldwins give when Steven speaks.

Later, the cast mutinously approached Singer in his office to tell him that while they respected Del Toro as an actor, none of them could figure out what the hell he was trying to do.

Singer was willing to stick by Del Toro's unconventional decision, and he told the cast that any time they didn't understand what he said, they should ask him to repeat himself in character, if only to signal to the viewers that they themselves were not going crazy and he was indeed talking like Mushmouth after dental surgery. So thanks to Del Toro, the one character who was designed to be completely forgettable wound up being one of the most memorable aspects of the movie.