At the Mountains of Madness - del Toro Speaks (1 Viewer)

[Julie K]

Guillermo del Toro talks about his ideas for an adaptation of Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness.
Lovecraft is hard to adapt to the screen. The wonderfully nihilistic elements in his stories send big studios and audiences who want a nice feel-good or life-affirming pictures screaming in terror. I think del Toro has the right ideas:
I can hardly believe my eyes - a Lovecraft adaptation set in the proper time!?! I feel faint.
Of course, the studios won't like it so we'll probably never see it. But damn, wouldn't it be nice?

 

[Blaine Skerry]

If LOTR can be done, anything is possible. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

Julie,

I met del Toro at the Lake Placid Film Forum back in June and he was very enthusiastic about this project. He was also one of the friendliest celebrities you could hope to meet. His knowledge of horror literature was pretty complete - he knew almost every reference thrown at him by the crowds.

Even though I'm not the biggest fan of his films - though THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE was very, very good - I think he's a great choice for a Lovecraft adaptation.

 

[Nick_Scott]

At the Mountains of Madness is probobly my favorite HPL story, but I'm not sure how well it can be adapted.

For one, I don't think typical movie watchers will believe there is a large, undiscovered, ancient city in antarctica, unless the movies ends with it being covered by a blizzard.

But then again, thats probobly why del Toro didn't want to set it in present time. People would say "why havnt satellites discovered that city?".

Plus, I'm not sure its possible to get the 'Lovecraftian-mood' just right. I have a feeling it will end up looking alot like "The Thing".

 

[JohnE]

I have soaring expectations for this movie. It's my second favorite Lovecraft story right behind The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath. If he can get this right, del Toro will instantly enter my personal pantheon of movie director gods.

 

[TheoGB]

I don't think it'll be too hard to do. Great story and probably it won't end up seeming too like The Thing as in this case, we have explorers looking for trouble (if you get my drift), whereas The Thing is just them getting a heap of trouble put on them...
I like the sound of it, though!!

 

[Julie K]

If this is done right it won't be too much like The Thing. No one confuses "Who Goes There" with "At the Mountains of Madness" do they?
Besides, as great as the creature in The Thing is, a shoggoth is going to be ever so much cooler.
I haven't seen any of del Toro's movies (but The Devil's Backbone is on my list of movies-to-see) but just judging by his words I think he's the best one to do a big budget Lovecraft movie. He certainly seems to "get" Lovecraft.

 

[Brook K]

I've been unimpressed by del Toro (The Devil's Backbone did nothing for me, it's hardly the ghost story/horror film it's touted as), but I'm thrilled to hear news of Lovecraft done period. I hope he's intent on keeping the language as well, I SO want to hear a character describe something as "exceedingly singular in nature".

 

[Andy Sheets]

(The Devil's Backbone did nothing for me, it's hardly the ghost story/horror film it's touted as)

I just watched it last night and I think it's wrong for people to tout it as a story of that nature. If anything it's closer to a dark kind of magic realism than traditional horror, and in that light I think it's really excellent, easily his best movie so far. Hopefully it means he's hitting his stride as a storyteller because I really want all these neat film ideas he's been talking about to turn out well

 

[Rex Bachmann]

"But will the kids like it?"

Ha! I'll believe it only if and when I see it on screen!

 

[Laura Nicholson]

Resurrecting a really old thread... :b

Has there been any news about "At The Mountains Of Madness"? As a relatively new Lovecraft fan, I think this would make an awesome movie, if done right. Anybody know anything new?

 

[Andy Sheets]

I believe it's exactly as it was when Del Toro initially started talking about it. He estimates that he's going to need a decent budget to do it but no one in Hollywood will give him the money unless he puts out at least one really big hit. His next two movies are Pan's Labyrinth and Hellboy 2, which means he's probably not going to be making that huge mainstream breakthrough any time soon.

 

[JonZ]

Julie,

Didnt u see Hellboy?

 

[Sam Posten]

IT'S COMING!
 
LOVECRAFT.
Del TORRO
CAMERON Producing!!!!
 
 

The news is beyond exciting for Lovecraft, del Toro and Cameron enthusiasts. What’s even more exciting is hearing Cameron talk about their collaborative vision.
“It’s going to be an epically-scaled horror film and we haven’t seen anything like that in a really long time — I guess since Aliens.”
 
Like the novella on which it’s based, the film will take place in the Antarctic, where humans encounter a race called the Ancient Ones. “The thing about Lovecraft is that he left a lot to the imagination. He never told you what they looked like. He managed to create a sense of creeping horror without specifics.”
 
Cameron believes that’s what makes del Toro the perfect man for the job.
 
“Guillermo brings an eye for design that is so original and so quirky and so steeped in the lore of movie design and horror design, but always fresh and unexpected. Frankly, I just want to see what he comes up with and I want to enable the nuts and bolts of the production so he doesn’t have to worry about that. I want to help him how to work in 3-D.”

 
http://www.wired.com/underwire/2010/08/james-cameron-talks-about-avatar-re-release-sequels/

 

[Kevin M]

IMDB shows his next film to be Frankenstein ...not that IMDB is the end all say all of accurate movie info.

 

[JonZ]

Dark Horizons and somewhere else I cant remember also recently reported Mountains as DelToros next project.
 
I adore Lovecrafts work, but this story never really did much for me. Also read James McAvoy and Tom Cruise are the 2 actors DelToro wants.

 

[SWFF]

I'm a big time Lovecraft fan, of his fiction and some of the movie adaptations, and I simply can not wait for this to come out!

 

[Ruz-El]

This could be amazing! Del Torro certainly understands the Lovecraft vibe, it's all over the Hellboy movies. Can't wait, I just hope it's in regular 2D.

 

[Ron-P]

Originally Posted by Kevin M
IMDB shows his next film to be Frankenstein ...not that IMDB is the end all say all of accurate movie info.

DAMN!!!
 
I was hoping it was going to be "The Haunted Mansion". He'll do it right, unlike the 2003 film which was utter crap.

 

[Brian Borst]

Originally Posted by Ron-P
DAMN!!!
 
I was hoping it was going to be "The Haunted Mansion". He'll do it right, unlike the 2003 film which was utter crap.

I thought he was only producing The Haunted Mansion?