All hail Cthulhu! Del Toro & Cameron to make the Mountains of Madness

[Agenda]

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=68356

Guillermo del Toro Finally Enters the Mountains of Madness

Source:Deadline, Edward Douglas
July 28, 2010


After nearly two months of anticipation and speculation about what movie Guillermo del Toro will direct next, Deadline has come forward to confirm that Universal has given the go-ahead for del Toro's adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness, produced by none other than James Cameron and to be del Toro's first movie shot in 3D. Del Toro has been wanting to make this movie for years, but the inordinate cost to make what could be a difficult R-rated period horror movie held it back, but with Cameron involved and Universal giving the thumbs up, the movie might start filming as early as next summer.

Written way back in 1931, Lovecraft's serialized novella dealt with his famed "Cthulhu Mythos," as a geologist leading an Antarctic expedition finds a huge chain of mountains, and on the other side, they find the remains of ancient uncharted life forms.

Having heard through the grapevine--oh, and rumored on Entertainment Weekly last week--that the H.P. Lovecraft adaptation may finally move forward, ComingSoon.net/ShockTillYouDrop.com decided to ask del Toro about it when we interviewed him at San Diego Comic-Con last week, and he gave us a few exclusive comments essentially on why it's been so difficult getting the movie made:

"What 'Mountains of Madness' is is a throwback to something nobody does anymore, it's tentpole horror," he told us. "Everybody now understands horror as minimum investment, maximum return, and most of the time, they go at it, as production entities, with great cynicism, like 'Let's make it really gory or extreme' and for a very low budget, and recuperate our investment, make money, all that. If you make a horror movie for half a million and it makes 4, they're very happy. The studio sees horror movies as something they will not invest more than $30-40 million. 'Mountains of Madness' needs to be tentpole in the way that the tentpole movies of the past were, about $130 million."

"I remember when I saw 'Alien' and I was absolutely blown away by it," he continued. "I saw John Carpenter's 'The Thing,' I saw Kubrick's 'The Shining.' These were massive movies in a genre that normally doesn't get massive movies. (With) 'Mountains of Madness,' there are two things that I've been battling all these years: period and R-rated, and a very very tough ending, so the studio is very scared of period obviously, he's very scared of the budget and an R-rating, and the first conversation I always have is, 'Does it have to be R?' and I go, 'Yes.' 'Does it have to be period? Does it have to be Antarctica?' 'Yes.'"

"'Mountains' is my dream and we've been pursuing it for thirteen years and I hope it happens," he told us as we wrapped up the conversation.

Well, Guillermo, it looks like your dream is going to come true, and reportedly, they're starting pre-production in the next few months to gear up for shooting the film next summer.

 

[Tulin]

Re: All hail Cthulhu! Del Toro & Cameron to make the Mountains of Madn

Perfect fit for a very talented director. Having Cameron on board to oversee things makes this even better! Say what you will about "Avatar"(and it was not my gavourite film of all time), at least the guy can dream big!

 

[Mallet]

Re: All hail Cthulhu! Del Toro & Cameron to make the Mountains of Madn

Fantastic News!

 

[Silent_Bob]

Re: All hail Cthulhu! Del Toro & Cameron to make the Mountains of Madn

Dammit why isn't there a smiley for dancing with joy? Best film news i've heard all year.

 

[SPCTRE]

Re: All hail Cthulhu! Del Toro & Cameron to make the Mountains of Madn

I guess it's time to read some Lovecraft, I just ordered Mountains of Madness

 

[Silent_Bob]

Re: All hail Cthulhu! Del Toro & Cameron to make the Mountains of Madn

I guess it's time to read some Lovecraft, I just ordered Mountains of Madness

I'd also recommend 'Call of Cthulhu' and my personal favourite 'The Dunwich Horror' to help get a grasp of the Great Old Ones.

 

[Nardpuncher]

Re: All hail Cthulhu! Del Toro & Cameron to make the Mountains of Madn

Now I wish I'd picked up that leather bound hardcover of Necronomicron when I was in Glasgow!

 

[Shurik]

Re: All hail Cthulhu! Del Toro & Cameron to make the Mountains of Madn

I guess it's time to read some Lovecraft, I just ordered Mountains of Madness

I'd also recommend 'Call of Cthulhu' and my personal favourite 'The Dunwich Horror' to help get a grasp of the Great Old Ones.

I would also recommend "A Whisperer in Darkness", "Shadow Out of Time", "Shadow Over Innsmouth" and "Colour Out of Space".

 

[Goliath]

Re: All hail Cthulhu! Del Toro & Cameron to make the Mountains of Madn

At last! The stars are right!

 

[MetalPants]

Re: All hail Cthulhu! Del Toro & Cameron to make the Mountains of Madn

At last, people will get a taste of Lovecraft! He's been shunned by too many people who don't read for far too long!

 

[SPCTRE]

Re: All hail Cthulhu! Del Toro & Cameron to make the Mountains of Madn

I guess it's time to read some Lovecraft, I just ordered Mountains of Madness

I'd also recommend 'Call of Cthulhu' and my personal favourite 'The Dunwich Horror' to help get a grasp of the Great Old Ones.

I would also recommend "A Whisperer in Darkness", "Shadow Out of Time", "Shadow Over Innsmouth" and "Colour Out of Space".

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll take them to heart

 

[Starbreaker]

Re: All hail Cthulhu! Del Toro & Cameron to make the Mountains of Madn

Whoa... he's been talking about this for years. I think he had all but given up hope last year. w00t!

 

[Worfmonger]

Re: All hail Cthulhu! Del Toro & Cameron to make the Mountains of Madn

I await this film with bated breath and gibbering terror.

Peace

Worfmonger

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

Re: All hail Cthulhu! Del Toro & Cameron to make the Mountains of Madn

Like most of Lovecraft's works, it'll be a tough one to adapt. They'll have to take a lot of liberties, but that's okay, as long as they get the core concepts right.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Re: All hail Cthulhu! Del Toro & Cameron to make the Mountains of Madn

Yippee! I'm going to go hug my Cthulhu plushie in celebration of this momentous announcement of mind-bending eldricht horror!

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Re: All hail Cthulhu! Del Toro & Cameron to make the Mountains of Madn

This is awesome news. Now let's hope we actually get a good movie at the end of all this!

 

[FluffyUnbound]

Re: All hail Cthulhu! Del Toro & Cameron to make the Mountains of Madn

I like that Cameron is producing, but is Del Toro really the best choice here?

I think of The Mountains of Madness being less Hellboy and more Silent Hill.

Del Toro may make it too "fun" and too "cool to look at".

 

[Skywalker]

Re: All hail Cthulhu! Del Toro & Cameron to make the Mountains of Madn

I like that Cameron is producing, but is Del Toro really the best choice here?

I think of The Mountains of Madness being less Hellboy and more Silent Hill.

Del Toro may make it too "fun" and too "cool to look at".

I agree. I think the tone that's needed should be something like that of Pan's Labyrinth.

Wait...

 

[Greg Cox]

Re: All hail Cthulhu! Del Toro & Cameron to make the Mountains of Madn

But will it be non-Euclidean 3-D?

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

Re: All hail Cthulhu! Del Toro & Cameron to make the Mountains of Madn

I see what you did there.