At long last.
Fans have been waiting for this announcement for years and years, Guillermo Del Toro has been working towards it for a decade or more, and all of us knew that sooner or later it would happen, if only through the collective mental will of millions of genre fans and one lovely Mexican. And so it is has come to pass… Mountains of Madness will be Del Toro’s next directing project, says Deadline (the first able to say what many already knew). Not only that, but Guillermo’s made it happen by recruiting the current biggest man in the business, James Cameron, to produce and shepherd the 3D project.
Mountains of Madness is considered the cornerstone of Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythology and has been a target for Guillermo for a very long time. It’s had a place in Guillermo’s deals, in the past with DreamWorks and currently with Universal, and has sat in various stages of development and scripting since at least 2004. Matthew Robbins has been Del Toro’s writing partner on the project, and they are now joined by producers Susan Montford and Don Murphy. While it was always the plan for Mountains of Madness to emerge in a big way from the Universal deal (which runs through 2017), between The Hobbit and some of Del Toro’s more immediate and obviously commercial projects, it never seemed likely we’d see it so soon.
I can’t think of a more miraculous marriage of resources and passion as Guillermo Del Toro and James Cameron. No matter what you think of Cameron as a filmmaker, it is utterly undeniable that he has the skills, clout, and drive to help bring the kind of scale to this project that it deserves. His name on the film (something he apparently plans to be stingy about, aside from Fantastic Voyage and Madness) should be a sign of how big Universal, Del Toro, and everyone involved envisions this being. Del Toro prophesied the scale (and commercial challenge) of this project years ago-
“ATMOM is a delicate project to push through a studio: no love interest, no female characters, no happy ending…
But i believe its time to resurrect the BIG TENTPOLE horror movie. The EVENT HORROR movie. Like THE EXORCIST was or THE SHINING or ALIEN or JAWS in their time…”
-and it’s an incredible feeling to know it’s going to happen soon. Deadline has preproduction pegged at starting within a few weeks, and cameras rolling next summer.
I have a strong suspicion Del Toro has some exciting tricks up his sleeve for this film, and can’t wait for the official announcement from his mouth directly.
To wrap things up, CHUD’s own Del Toro cohort, Nick Nunziata, had a few words on the announcement
“This is the big one. The mother lode, both for Guillermo and his die hard fans and fans of H.P. Lovecraft in general. This is a massive, dark, weird, and dense project and it shows incredible faith in the filmmakers for a studio to finally allow it to be. Considering that Guillermo dabbled in Lovecraftian beasties in the Hellboy flicks and they were colossal and delightful just imagine what he’s going to do with the real things. I’m so glad I can finally discuss this publicly with folks. It’s great to see filmmakers using their clout and passion in such a way that allows stuff to make it through the system in an era where it’s easy to lose hope.”
35 comments
YES!!! Looking forward to this so much more than a Del Toro Frankenstein movie!
FUCK YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Don Murphy's name should be redacted from anything I'm supposed to take seriously, because after I see it all I can think of is that time he told that kid on IMDB "your giant asscrack is full of graffiti."
"Ja, ja Cthulhu f'tagen" is all I have to say. This now my most anticipated film ever.
This is fantastic news! Del Toro and Cameron teaming up to bring us an H.P. Lovecraft masterpiece on the big screen. I cannot wait.
Absolutely glorious news. It's so great to hear that Del Toro's passion piece is finally going to be made. James Cameron's involvement is not necessary, but not unwelcome, either.
This just made my otherwise shitstain of a day.
Finally a Del Toro project to be excited about! I love Cameron being brought in as producer and not as director – I wasn't a fan of Avatar at all but combined with Del Toro's imagery it could be something special.
I'm not familiar with the original story, but I'm glad to hear there will be no love story, or a happy ending. That immediately reminds me of The Thing and that is great.
Mind kinda blown. It sounds very cool. I wonder what Cameron's role will be?
about damn time!
This was the best news I could have hoped for… until I got to the 3D part. I love del Toro's work, and I know James Cameron's 3D is different than the gimmicky shit we usually see. That said, even "Avatar" suffered from occasional image blurring the two times I saw it in theaters. Alas, if going with 3D was the only way to get this to happen… It's an annoyance I am willing to put up with.
Is the plan still to shoot in Antarctica?
What's this crapola? Where's ma Hellboy 3? Just like when he was gonan make the Hobbit, I asked, "What's this crapola? Where's ma Hellboy 3?"
Finally. Best news ever.
Damn it, I want Frankenstein!
I have no idea how they're going to get a story out of this one. If he can pull off the blind six foot penguins…
Seriously tho, the major brunt of the story is a history lesson in the Old Ones/Elder Ones/etc. Other than the awesome beginning, nothing else happens – in the end, they escape, with one of the characters going insane after glimpsing a Lovecraftian being that cannot be described. Fingers crossed on this…
Great news, but I'm confused. What happened to "The Haunted Mansion"?
Will he only be producing that one?
I honestly do not understand how this is good news so I will ask: how is this good news? I'm *really* not being snarky – honest! I just do not see anything in Del Toro's filmography that screams "dream team" – other than a few seconds of ancient gods floating in space in HellBoy . . . but which he promptly dispatched with frag grenades, as I recall. Not much space for his kooky humour in that property either. Will this turn into a "re-imagining" with machine guns and quip-cracking action heroes? A brief but solid argument in the man's favour would be great 'cause I don't see it. FOR THE 3D – this is about the best use for 3D I can think of, since Lovecraft makes CONSTANT reference to how much the architecture of the Old Ones breaks the laws of physics and its impossible angles shatter men's minds. As for MOVIE LOVECRAFT – I'm highly skeptical. I tried cracking that code once and the only one I could see really working was THE CALL OF CTHULHU. Most of his greatest work is of descriptions of things that cannot be described: The Colour out of Space, ATMoM, Nyarlathotep. Even SHADOW OVER INNSMOUTH needs the hand of a true master since almost *nothing* happens; it's all atmosphere and internal dread. Some of his "lesser" work would work quite well, however: The Ancester, Day at Wenworth, Down among the Pharaohs.
This is good news.
Considering the the protests of "he should be doing Lovecraft instead of Haunted Mansion" that were here earlier, I suggest that any and all pre-emptive bitching from the fanboy community (ie: Cameron, 3D, etc)about this project should be greeted with a series of sharp blows to said complainers' heads.
Del Toro's doing it – we got what we wanted, so quit acting like a pack of spoiled adolescents, shut up and let's just bask in the glow.
I pray that Jeffrey Combs is hired for this; he is this generation's finest Lovecraftian actor.
Wonder if it will be a period flick or contemporary-setting.
About time. I've been so sick of hearing about this for years, despite never really knowing what it was. Good for Guillermo.
Cameron is just one degree away from CHUD, I bet Faraci must be loving this….I bet Guillermo HATES Avatar with as much passion as you do…. not!!!
Yeah, out of all the Lovecraft stories this one seems to have the least story. But maybe Del Toro's going to expand, have them take over the world or something. I thought the story was sort of dull and I generally like Lovecraft.
And Cameron is the best thing to happen to this project…because who's going to tell him "no?" So he can protect Del Toro's vision.
NO CAMPY COMEDY, GUILLERMO. Make it as bleak and mirthless as the book.
From the sound of it those that are complaining have only seen GDTs work from Hellboy or Blade 2. Which weren't bad (though Hellboy 2 was like taking a shotgun blast to the scrotum it sucked so hard) but didn't have the tone you'd need for a story like AtMoM. His other work like Pans Labyrinth, Chronos or The Devils Backbone show he really could pull off the atmosphere and creature effects needed to make this thing awesome. Couldn't give a crap about the 3D but if he is going to use the third dimension at least he's going about it the right way.
If any but Guillermo was doing this I'd be interested. He only shows a surface understanding of Lovecraft.
HOT DIGGITY DAMN! I have faith that del Toro will be pretty faithful to the story. I would kill to see a faithful adaptation of The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath.
Bring back the Event Horror Del Toro, fuck these shitty saw-scream movies, get horror back to where it belongs.
Wow you people really dont understand lovecraft do you? If you did you would understand that any film of mountains of madness will not work. Dumbasses.
I'm sure del Toro will have his own take on the story (like Cronenberg found with Naked Lunch). And with Big Jim playing linebacker on this one ensures a solid production. And God yes, a period flick with Combs would rock so hard!
@27, you do realize that "any but Guillermo" would include directors like Michael Bay, Brett Ratner and Marcus Nispel, all of whom I doubt have ever read Lovecraft, let alone have more of a superficial understanding of his work. I'm just glad to see that this is happening. I was suspicious that this would just be an untrue rumor until Nick Nunziata actually confirmed it.
This makes me wonder if any of you have even read the novella… There must be some tremendous liberties taken with this or it's going to be one snoozefest of a film. I'm not saying that it can't be done and the del Toro doesn't know that, but in typical Lovecraftian style, the whole novella is a build up from the narrators point of view. He's just discovering temples and reading ancient languages. Is it suspenseful, yes. Does it have movie style action, no.
Sounded freakin' AWESOME — until you said one of the producers was DON FRICKIN' MURPHY. So this movie is produced by the same man who helped to shat out the cinematic abortion that was LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN?? Consider my expectations dropped through the goddamn floor. Way to wreck a sure thing…
all i gotta say is … bottle in the face!!! choke on that!
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