Guillermo del Toro Discusses AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS Monsters, Hard 'R', and Why it might not happen
Guillermo del Toro is extremely excited about making his film At The Mountains of Madness. He's been waiting 13 years to bring this H.P. Lovecraft story to the big screen, and he want's full complete control of the film when he does it. It seems like he's more excited to see this movie get made then we are!
Not long ago it was rumored that Tom Cruise and James McAvoy were up for the lead role in the film. There is still no confirmation of this or who is going to get it. When Del Toro was asked about this in a new interview with Collider, he told them that it's too early to begin casting, and they just turned in a new draft of the script to James Cameron and the films producers. He does go on to talk more about this film in depth, revealing who is creating the monster designs for the film, discusses his road to getting it made and how there is a chance it might not happen, which would suck!
ILM's Dennis Muren is designing the monsters for the movie! This is pretty exciting news as is this is the same guy would worked on creating visual and creature effects for films such as the Star Wars Trilogy, E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Jurassic Park. So this guy is the real deal, would Del Toro settle for anything less? Muren told Del Toro that "you’ve never seen monsters like this.” Thats what I like to hear! I would love to see some awesome and original monsters!
Del Toro goes on to say that if the film doesn't get the right budget and the support he is looking for, then he won't make the movie. "if we don't get the right money, if we don't get the right support, I won't do it... it's a movie that's been with me for thirteen years. It's been with me as a fan since I read it as a kid. It's one of those seminal books." The guy wants to make this film right, and he wants to do it his with no no interference from the studio. The movie still has yet to get the green light, but he's not taking any other projects right now. He is putting a lot of his focus on making At The Mountain of Madness happen. There are two issues right now for the studio that they are nervous about. It’s a hard core R rated movie and it’s a horror tentpole movie with a big budget. I can see the studio being a little nervous about this, this is a genre film with a limited audience, as awesome as this movie will be if it gets made, there's a chance it could bomb at the box-office.
Apparently when he was pitching the film to Universal he gave a Jimmy Stewart Mr. Smith Goes to Washington speech to get everyone on board. He's still trying to get the film green lit.
There are very few filmmakers in Hollywood that have complete creative control, Cameron is one of these filmmakers and Del Toro wants this for Mountains of Madness, if he gets it I'm sure he'll be able to have it with the rest of his films here on out. I hope he gets it! It will be awesome to see what he can do with this full creative control.
For those of you hoping he sticks to the story in the book and makes a solid adaptation, it will comfort you to know that he is going to give the script to a few Lovecraft scholars to get their input on it. However, he's quick to say, "I'm not going to get it right for all the fans. There's no chance of that." I like that he's not afraid to admit that. I'm sure he'll adapt the story the best way for film.
I don't think James Cameron's involvement with the project is going to hurt either, after all he's made the top two highest grossing films of all time. With Cameron in his corner I'm sure Del Toro will get everything he is asking for. Del Toro and Cameron have been friends for 20 years and this is the first film project they will be working on together on.
I'm seriously looking forward to this movie! It's got to get made and I hope the studio gives him everything that he needs to make it happen!
What do you think about all this?