If you’re a follower of the career of Guillermo del Toro, which we certainly are, from Hellboy to Pan’s Labyrinth to his involvement in the very early concept stages of this December’s The Hobbit, you might be aware of one of his longest gestating projects, At the Mountains of Madness. Shelved once again in March of last year, the adaptation of the most famous work in of H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulu mythos, has continually had trouble getting greenlit, as a conceptual horror movie about the ultimately uncomfortable relationship between mankind and the rest of the universe that would require a large budget, big special effects, and an R rating.
Wait… that sounds familiar…
In fact, all of those things could also apply to Ridley Scott‘s long awaited return to the Aliens universe, and del Toro feels this makes the market a bit to saturated.
After being asked about them in interviews, the director/producer/writer posted his observations on his message boards at DelToroFilms.com to make his thoughts clear:
Prometheus started filming a while ago – right at the time we were in preproduction on Pacific Rim. The title itself gave me pause- knowing that Alien was heavily influenced by Lovecraft and his novella.
This time, decades later with the budget and place Ridley Scott occupied, I assumed the greek metaphor alluded at the creation aspects of the H.P. Lovecraft book. I believe I am right and if so, as a fan, I am delighted to see a new Ridley Scott science fiction film, but this will probably mark a long pause – if not the demise – of At the Mountains of Madness.
Hollywood’s no stranger to putting out two movies with very similar premises at the same time, but I can certainly understand del Toro’s artistic desire not to tread the same ground as someone else in his medium so soon after they have, especially an artist that he is a fan of. I also like that he’s not getting defensive or petty about it. I mean, I suppose that expecting people not to get defensive or petty about decisions that were pretty clearly not made purposefully to hinder them and their ambitions is a pretty basic expectation, but it’s still nice.
(via Coventry Telegraph.)
