Del Toro on "At the Mountains of Madness"

[PsychoPere]

Collider.com has posted a new video interview with Guillermo del Toro from the Toronto International Film Festival. In the interview, del Toro talks about At the Mountains of Madness, The Haunted Mansion, and reveals that he has a video game deal!

Reveals he just finished a rewrite and turned it into James Cameron and the other producers last week. They are on week two of designs. Dennis Muren is doing the designing. Del Toro says Muren told him “you’ve never seen monsters like this.”

Says Haunted Mansion will be PG-13 and we talk about the tone of the movie. Says it will be a “dark ride” and it will combine the two spirits that built the mansion. Says “one was very playful and one was quite dark and twisted and the result is the unique flavor of the mansion.”

Says he has a video game deal that will be for 3 games over 10 years and they’ll officially announce it soon. Basically every 3 years a new game.

Click the link for the full interview, of course, along with links to a couple other related articles.

Although I still haven't read my copy of a Lovecraft collection, I've been looking forward to del Toro's adaptation of At the Mountains of Madness since it was first hinted that the may take on the project. I'm also very curious now to hear more details on this video game deal. I haven't had time to watch the interview yet; I wanted to get it up here as quickly as I could for others to see. Del Toro may be my favorite director working today, so I'm excited for everything he touches.

 

[Admiral_Young]

It wasn't 'hinted at' it was actually outright announced. This is going to be one of the most interesting film productions to follow over the next couple of years. Going to see it for sure.

 

[Greylock Crescent]

Heh ... I'm actually currently reading "At the Mountains of Madness." Should be interesting to see on screen.

 

[PsychoPere]

It wasn't 'hinted at' it was actually outright announced.

I was referring to way back here when all we knew was that del Toro was interested, before we knew of any actual work being done on the idea. In any event, the film still hasn't been given a greenlight, according to this interview.

 

[FPAlpha]

I have huge faith in Del Toro and his team.

Time and time again he has proven to be a very imaginative story teller and has his own unique visual style.. i love Blade 2, Hellboy and Pan's Labyrinth (that one has a very uniqe way of handling a story and concluding it) so i guess he's a very fitting director to take on a Lovecraft story.

Will be seeing it when it comes to the cinema although i usually don't watch horror movies (unless they are funny as well).

 

[Argus Skyhawk]

I'm interested in the fact that they are talking about a possible Haunted Mansion film, considering there already was one few years ago with Eddie Murphy. I had been looking forward to that one since it was my favorite Disneyland attraction, but the negative reviews and silly-looking commercials scared me away. It's nice to think that perhaps Disney is considering a good version this time.

 

[PsychoPere]

^ No "possible" involved here; it was announced at the San Diego Comic Con. Del Toro is writing and producing, it will be live-action and in 3D.

 

[Aragorn]

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the Tom Cruise (Del Toro's choice) vs. James McAvoy (studio's choice) rumors floating around for this project. Of course they're just that -- rumors.

 

[Reverend]

While I'm far more interested in this film than just about anything else currently in development (Dredd being a close-ish second) I can't help but wonder how Del Toro intends to tackle the actual narrative of the film. The book as it stands is basically a summarised history of the Elder Things with a thin mystery plot as a framing device. For most of the film, all the characters really do is wander though an abandoned city, reading dusty old murals before hearing a funny noise in the shadows and run away screaming like little girls. It's great as a book, but there's no way it'd work as a film "as is." Indeed this is a problem with a lot of the various attempted adaptations of Lovecraft's work over the years. I say attempted because none have really hit the mark and only one or two (understandably) made any effort to stay true to the source material.

Actually to date the best Lovecraft adaptation I've seen is not a film at all but a video game; Dark Corners of the Earth. Instead of picking one story and padding it out or poaching ideas and making up somethin totally new, the developers made the interesting choice to seamlessly merge 'Shadow over Innsmouth' with 'Shadow out of Time' and it works surprisingly well. So I wonder if GMT might do something similar with 'At the Mountains of Madness'; perhaps merging or somehow tying it in with 'Call of Cthulhu' since the stories are peripherally and contextually related.

 

[Goliath]

It seems to me that the story of At the Mountains of Madness would work best as the final act of a feature film. But that would require writing an original story (or lifting elements from one or more other Lovecraft stories) before setting sail for Antarctica. It will be interesting indeed to see how they try to adapt this material.

 

[PsychoPere]

Deadline has a great interview with del Toro online conducted a week ago.

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the Tom Cruise (Del Toro's choice) vs. James McAvoy (studio's choice) rumors floating around for this project. Of course they're just that -- rumors.

Considering the project is still in budgeting and designing phases - not yet greenlit - any casting rumor is certainly just a rumor.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

I know Tom Cruise comes in for a lot of shit, but he does considerably better with roles that aren't just straight-up heroes, so I wouldn't mind if Del Toro got his way. And after all, a director's wishes should count for more than the frakkin' studio.

EDIT: here are my picks for the role, Edward Norton or (if the character is envisioned younger), Joseph Gordon-Levitt. I like the balance between fragility and inner strength that both actors can convey - seems right for a Lovecraft hero.

 

[PsychoPere]

THR has a new interview up. It's mainly about del Toro's new DreamWorks Animation deal, but it also includes this bit on At the Mountains of Madness:

He is beginning his fourth week of design work with Lightstorm Entertainment on his directorial project "At the Mountains of Madness." 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 execs, and "cross your fingers, we hope to get a greenlight."

 

[Greylock Crescent]

I just finished At The Mountains of Madness and I have to say, it was horrendously written. The movie can't be anything but better than the story. I started reading Lovecraft anthologies over the summer and this is, by far, the most boring tale I've read -- which is a shame, because I've enjoyed Lovecraft and archeological stories, uncovering a mysterious and ominous past, are pretty damned cool in my book. But this story? Not so much. Actually, the story itself is interesting enough, and notable for how it expands Lovecraft's mythos. But the minutiae with which Lovecraft describes things is just mind-numbingly dull.

 

[FordSVT]

^I don't know about you, but my "maddening alien geometries" can't be described in enough detail!

 

[Base_Delta_Zero]

^I don't know about you, but my "maddening alien geometries" can't be described in enough detail!

Same. It's one of my favorite Lovecraft stories. I even have the radio drama and expedition hoodie!

 

[Goliath]

^I don't know about you, but my "maddening alien geometries" can't be described in enough detail!

Same. It's one of my favorite Lovecraft stories. I even have the radio drama and expedition hoodie!

*Ears perk up*

Radio drama, you say? Tell me more.

As for Lovecraft's style--I can see how someone wouldn't enjoy it. But personally, I find it blasphemously, indescribably, unnameably entertaining.

 

[Silvercrest]

^I don't know about you, but my "maddening alien geometries" can't be described in enough detail!

At last! An explanation for your avatar!

 

[Greylock Crescent]

As for Lovecraft's style--I can see how someone wouldn't enjoy it. But personally, I find it blasphemously, indescribably, unnameabably entertaining.

The thing is, I've actually rather enjoyed his work up to this point (his obvious racism notwithstanding). Lovecraft's stories work wonderfully as psychological thrillers, with hints of something much grander and more ominous lurking below consciousness and below the earth (and waves). And the style -- usually of a narrator recounting past events -- helps underscore the psychological elements of his stories.

But At The Mountains of Madness is, well, maddening in its nauseating descriptions. Heck, at one point even the narrator says, "It would be cumbrous to give a detailed, consecutive account of our wanderings" before spending the next five pages giving what can only be described as a cumbrous, detailed account of his wanderings.

The information in the story is fascinating. The writing is simply terrible. My criticism has less to do with style and more to do with execution of style. Which is why I say that the movie can only improve upon the story.

 

[FordSVT]

^I don't know about you, but my "maddening alien geometries" can't be described in enough detail!

At last! An explanation for your avatar!

I can honestly say I have more naked women in my avatar than anyone else on the board.