Guillermo del Toro to Write and Direct TROLLHUNTERS for DreamWorks Animation!
In a recent interview director Guillermo del Toro revealed that he was spending every Tuesday night with DreamWorks animation working on various unannounced animated projects for them. Today one of those projects has been revealed!
Del Toro will write and direct an adaptation of Trollhunters, a young-adult book that the filmmaker submitted to publisher Hyperion a couple of weeks ago.
Not long ago it Del Toro and Disney announced a new production label called Disney Double Dare You. That production label fell apart, and Del Toro has now made DreamWorks his animation home. THR reports "He will serve as a consultant and exec producer on several projects already in development, including Kung Fu Panda 2, Puss in Boots and one yet-to-be-revealed project. His fingerprints will even be on DWA's next feature, Megamind, which hits theaters Nov. 5."
Del Toro had this to say about his new upcoming Trollhunters project:
I wanted very much to develop a story that could be written for kids but dealt with a genre that was scary. It essentially combines fairy tales with modern times and is about how difficult it is to be kid. Normally, kids are idealized in animated films. But the growing pains, married with the notion that there is a world right next to us that is completely plagued by creatures of ancient lore, it's thematically fitting with the rest of my stuff.
Del Toro has already started working on writing Trollhunters and will end up finishing it before he starts shooting his live action film At The Mountains of Madness.
He's beginning his fourth week of design work with Lightstorm Entertainment on his directorial project At the Mountains of Madness. THR reports that he is having a summit with Universal in three weeks at which he and his team will present a budget, art and maquettes to the studio's executives.
I'm excited to see what Del Toro's Trollhunters turns out to be, what do you all think about the director making DreamWorks his animation home?
Here's the official Press Release:
DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. (Nasdaq:DWA - News) announced today that famed Oscar-nominated director Guillermo del Toro has named the studio his home for animated feature film projects. Del Toro will join Andrew Adamson and Michelle Raimo as Executive Producer on Puss In Boots, which is scheduled to be released on November 4, 2011.
DreamWorks Animation has acquired from del Toro Trollhunters (working title), an original project from which the Company plans to produce a 3D animated feature film, which will be written and directed by del Toro himself. The exciting new story of Trollhunters is being kept entirely under wraps at the studio. Additionally, del Toro will consult on a number of DreamWorks Animation's upcoming feature film releases.
"Animation is a singularly unique medium in that it allows an artist to envision, articulate and manipulate whole new worlds that spark the imagination in amazing ways," said Guillermo del Toro. "Nowhere have I found a greater concentration of spirit and creativity than at DreamWorks Animation and I cannot imagine a better place for me to pursue my ambition as a filmmaker: to tell the best possible stories that can reach the biggest number of people around the world."
"On behalf of the entire studio, I'd like to warmly welcome Guillermo into the DreamWorks family of filmmakers; we are incredibly honored that he has chosen our studio as his home for feature animation," said Bill Damaschke, Co-President of Production at DreamWorks Animation. "Guillermo brings a unique vision and unmatched level of inventiveness to his storytelling and we cannot wait to see what he can do together with our creative team here at DreamWorks Animation."