Guillermo del Toro is desperate to work with his 'The Shape of Water' leading lady Sally Hawkins again.

Guillermo del Toro

Guillermo del Toro

The 53-year-old Mexican director's unique love story - inspired by classic 1954 Universal Monster movie 'Creature from the Black Lagoon' - saw Hawkins stars as mute cleaner Elisa in a secret base and falls in love with a mysterious amphibian creature from the Amazon.

The film was nominated for 13 Academy Awards this year and took home four golden statuettes for Best Picture, Best Director for Guillermo, Best Original Music Score and Best Production Design.

And the fantastical screen storyteller is very keen to reunite his working partnership with Hawkins, 42.

He said: "Every time we meet up or speak on the phone or send an email the word 'when' is included. As in, 'When are we to work together again?!' "

Guillermo is currently deciding what his next project will be and has the choice of a 'Pinocchio' adaptation for Warner Bros. Pictures. or a big screen version of Roald Dahl's children's novel 'The Witches' and two other secret stories.

Speaking to The Daily Mail newspaper, he said: "I'm eating, drinking and thinking philosophically (about four projects). I have given myself until September to decide, then I will pick one of the four and prepare to make it."

In April, Guillermo signed an exclusive deal with DreamWorks Animation to write, produce and direct family movies for the studio.

He previously worked as a creative consultant on animated movies such as 'Kung Fu Panda 2' and 'Megamind'.