Guillermo del Toro‘s dream project, a film adaptation of At the Mountains of Madness subsided beneath the deeps three months ago, the eldritch whispers of its gestating emergence into reality fading with the news that Universal Pictures wasn’t willing to take the bet that del Toro could turn a profit on a $150 million R-rated movie.
However! del Toro, like a certain tentacle-faced high priest we could name, is steadfast in his determination to bring Lovecraftian horrors into the lives of each and every one of us.
He told the LA Times:
“I’m not giving up… ‘Mountains of Madness’ has been with me for 13, 14 years and I really don’t want to give up on it. Look, the movies I do, I stick with them when I think, well, if I don’t do it, nobody will. …Hellboy, if I hadn’t done it, I don’t think anyone would have. Pan’s Labyrinth, same thing. Mountains of Madness, the way I plan to do it is a very peculiar take, and I think if I don’t stick with it the version I would like to see would never get made.”
del Toro conceded that Universal was indeed mostly worried about the price tag and that he wanted the film to aim for an R-rating, not necessarily for violence or sex, but said that “sometimes intensity, the intensity of the situations, garners you the R,” which bodes well for anyone who’s looking forward to what Lovecraftian fiction is all about: people going right the hell out of their minds.
Still, del Toro is more than determined:
“I’m going to keep pursuing it,” he said. “Universal is still really interested in doing it. Coming out of Pacific Rim, I intend to see if we can do it immediately.
“I knew Mountains was a long shot,” he added. “In fact, it was a miracle we got that close to production.”
Gods-speed, sir.
(The LA Times via ScreenRant.)
