After offering updates on the script and announcing an April 2017 release date for Pacific Rim 2 recently, many assumed that this sequel would be director Guillermo del Toro's next project. As it turns out, that is not the case, with the filmmaker revealing that he plans to shoot a small black and white movie in early 2015 before starting principal photography on Pacific Rim 2 at the end of next year.

If you were wondering how the filmmaker plans to juggle two films at once, Guillermo del Toro broke down his plan, working between this mysterious indie and the massive Pacific Rim 2.

"Right away, in February/March I should [start on] another very small movie, black and white, really, really bizarre before starting-we start pre-production on Pacific Rim 2 in August, and then I interrupt it briefly to go into the first of next year to do this strange little movie, and then I restart it and go all the way until we start shooting Pacific Rim 2 at the end of 2015 for release in 2017."

While he wouldn't divulge any story details, the filmmaker reveals the he wants to cast John Hurt and an unknown actress for his black and white project.

"It's a very small cast. I would love to have John Hurt, and there's an actress that I have in mind that is not well-known but I've seen her in a short film. That's all she's really done, one feature and one short, but she has an incredibly interesting taste and I'm gonna try her out for the main role."

You may recall that John Hurt was originally set to play Abraham Setrakian in Guillermo del Toro's upcoming TV series The Strain, before he was replaced by David Bradley.

When pressed for more details about this mysterious indie, Guillermo del Toro confirmed there is one creature in the movie, although he doesn't want to divulge the project's title just yet.

"There's one great creature in it. It does [have a title], but I find-I'd rather do the projects and then show them to people than talk about them. I think that it's going to be a nice thing for people to know which one is it and where it came from when it's a reality."

Are you excited to see Guillermo del Toro return to smaller-scale projects such as Pan's Labyrinth? Chime in with your thoughts below.