At the Mountains of Madness - movie being made

[Cain]

http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=21168

Good news for fans of Guillermo del Toro – and after Pan's Labyrinth, that should be all of you.

For it seems that after the great man finishes his current pet project, the currently-shooting Hellboy 2: The Golden Army, he'll move onto another pet project: his long-awaited adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's At The Mountains Of Madness.

Madness, in which an Antartic expedition stumbles upon a mountain range taller than the Himalayas that contains an indescribable and ancient evil, has been on del Toro's to-do list (pinned up on his fridge) for ages. In fact, location scouting for Madness had already taken place in Romania before Hellboy 2 was greenlit; if that hadn't happened, it's highly likely that del Toro would have been shooting it right now.

A huge Lovecraft fan, del Toro had been previously unable to find a studio willing to make At The Mountains Of Madness. Perhaps they were scared by the superficial similarity to John Carpenter's The Thing (although, of course, Lovecraft's tale predates that by almost seventy years), but now Universal and producers Don Murphy and Susan Montford have given del Toro their backing, it looks like this will be his next movie, ahead of his Tarzan reboot and another secret project that Empire has learned of, but can't reveal just yet.

And we wish Guillermo well – one of the nicest guys in Hollywood, he's now developed into a truly world-class film-maker and At The Mountains Of Madness gives him ample opportunity to unleash the monsters of his dreams.

However, as Latino Review's Kellvin Chavez – who broke the story – muses, will this be a pre-strike shoot for del Toro? Given that Hellboy 2 doesn't finish post-production until May or June of next year, we reckon it's unlikely. But you never know – and with the script ready, plus location scouting and some design work, del Toro could be tackling those Mountains sooner than you think.
Empire Empire

[Cramulus]

When I first clicked this topic I thought,

I swear to god - if I get rick rolled one more time...


but thankfully, this thread delivers.

[rabidpigmy]

This has been in the talks for a long time on the nets, and I'm glad to see they've finally announced it along with the director. I think speculation about it was pointing to Peter Jackson, M. Night Shammamalamalon, and Guillermo del Toro. I'm glad it's the latter, 'cause while Hellboy wasn't the most brilliant thing ever, I thought it was certainly Lovecraftian enough towards the end. Those scenes are probably a nice preview of what's to be expected from At the Mountains of Madness, so I'm excited. Also, he did a good job with Pan's Labyrinth. I wanna watch that bottle bash, again.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

I really like del Toro's work (including Devil's Backbone) but I really felt cheated over Pan's Labyrinth. That's probably due, mostly to the fact that all of the advertising indicated a movie with heavy fantasy and mentioned nothing about a movie with heavy Spanish Civil War scenes. The movie itself, once I got over the fact that almost all of the fantasy scenes were in the commercials, was good.l I think he'll do very well with Lovecraft.

Though to be fair, it will be hard to top Stuart Gorden... that guy seems to understand Lovecraft far better than anyone that's tried to adapt his stuff.

[rabidpigmy]

I liked Pan's Labyrinth being set during the Spanish Civil War. I like those 'modern' fantasy types, where the strangeness lurks around the corners (and sometimes in plain sight). Charles de Lint and Grant Morrison-type of stuff. Anywho, thought I'd point this out if it isn't already known: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0804493/

Apparently Stuart Gorden has written and directed a new Re-Animator, House of the Re-Animator. It's slated for 2008. It's news to me, at least.

[Cainad (dec.)]

Mittens for Guillermo del Toro:
This should be good.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Mittens for Guillermo del Toro:
This should be good.

Preview:

http://members.on.nimp.org

[Fredfredly ⊂(◉‿◉)つ]

WTF ROGER I HATE YOU

[rabidpigmy]

That's no anus. That's a hole into a realm of Madness!

[Triple Zero]

i read a bunch of lovecraft stories, unfortunately this one wasn't in it. i shall have to find it somewhere soon so i can bitch about how the book was better.

though Pan's Labyrinth was very cool. i had to watch it twice.

[nurbldoff]

Woohoo! I've been keeping an eye on Del Toro since i read about this being his his dream project a few years ago.

I guess the original story is more or less unfilmable (in the hollywood sense) since it has almost no action until the very end, no romance (all male cast, heavily dressed and mostly oxygen-masked, I bet the producers aren't too happy about that...) so unfortunately they will probably have to make big changes.

Still, Del Toro should be able to pull it off.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

WTF ROGER I HATE YOU

I am a bad monkey.

[Z³]

Woohoo! I've been keeping an eye on Del Toro since i read about this being his his dream project a few years ago.

I guess the original story is more or less unfilmable (in the hollywood sense) since it has almost no action until the very end, no romance (all male cast, heavily dressed and mostly oxygen-masked, I bet the producers aren't too happy about that...) so unfortunately they will probably have to make big changes.

Still, Del Toro should be able to pull it off.

The original story was written as a periodical for Weird Tales, which in a way explains  the style of OH WAIT, I FORGOT SOMETHING EVEN MOAR HORRIBLE AND TERRIFYING THAT I NEED TO TELL YOU NOW, WAIT TELLING YOU THAT THING JUST TRIGGERED ANOTHER MEMORY WHICH IS EVEN MOAR TERRIBLE AND HORRIFYING THAN I THE ONE THAT I JUST SAID. Actually, thats always been one of my least favorite lovecraft stories, specifically for how often it starts over from the beginning and retells itself, including an additional detail every single time. I doubt the movie will illustrate the story in that fashion, or if it does it will probably not be nearly as severe. I think its going to work, and it might just be enough to cheer me up from the fucking hackjob they're doing to the Watchmen.

[rabidpigmy]

fucking hackjob they're doing to the Watchmen.

Oh god, please tell me they're not raping Watchmen? And to think I was contemplating what it would be like for an Invisibles movie to come out.

[Z³]

fucking hackjob they're doing to the Watchmen.

Oh god, please tell me they're not raping Watchmen? And to think I was contemplating what it would be like for an Invisibles movie to come out.

No-name cast, writer, and director? Its going to suck. Word on the street says they changed the overall storyline in such a way that the entire point of the story is completely overlooked, action sequences are needlessly shoehorned in, not to mention that a brief look at the cast list shows that none of the actors are appropriate for their roles. The comedian, for example, should be pretty old... yet he's portrayed by a young 30's soap opera alum.

Dont get your hopes up.