Rumors have been circulating for several years now about Guillermo del Toro directing At the Mountains of Madness. Comment below with your opinion on:
- Does the success of Pacific Rim make AtMoM more likely? Granted, it wasn’t a huge financial hit, but it did okay, and the word-of-mouth was phenomenal.
- Who are your dream actors for AtMoM?
- As well all know, there are always a few changes when a book is adapted into a movie. In your opinion, what are the most important plot points to stick to? Which plot points aren’t as necessary?
- Would AtMoM be a financial success?
- Any other thoughts about this (potential) movie? Bear in mind that The Lovecraft eZine is a very high profile Lovecraftian site, and your thoughts may be read by those who make the decision about the movie. What do we want these guys to know, if they ever DO get closer to a decision on this?
Comment below!
(Artwork above by Steve-Burg at Deviant Art; according to his profile, he worked on Prometheus. Do check out his online gallery, there’s some great art there!)
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I think “At the Mountains of Madness” would make a great movie, but it would need to be significantly shortened.
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It wasn’t that the studio requested Del Toro tone the film to a PG-13 due to the content (it’s not like ATMoM is particularly violent or that Lovecraft ever offered any hint of full frontal) but more that an R rated horror is box office death even with the major talent involved. Granted, it’s all infuriating to Del Toro and fans and whatnot but consider that the biggest all time R rated horror success is The Exorcist at $232,906,145. This amount falls behind the next biggest PG-13 horror blockbuster The Sixth Sense at $293,506,292. It’s mind boggling that The Exorcist, one of the most critically acclaimed and profitable R-rated horror films in the last 40 years, made 61 million less than a film that has been around for only 14 years and will likely have a fraction of the cultural impact. There’s simply no denying that an R rating hurts horror in the pocketbook. Believe me, it fills me with self loathing to offer an argument in favor of the studio’s decision but I had to point out that their stance is based on the profit margin only, not the screenplay’s actual content.
I’m a huge Del Toro fan but he’s not my first choice for AtMoM. While a brilliant visual director everything done to date is missing that sense of cosmic awe I associate with Lovecraft’s fiction. There’s something about Del Toro’s baroque imagery that evokes Catholicism as practiced by some malefic pontiff or a beautiful fairy tale populated by Arthur Rackhamesque characters more than Lovecraft’s Non-Euclidean geometry, skewed architectures that hint at other realms, and incomprehensible entities from stars forever hidden from any Hubble telescope’s scrutiny. Like Lovecraft, Del Toro is an atheist, but unlike Lovecraft he strikes me more as a humanist. Del Toro’s horrors are grotesque and while a melancholy strain runs through his work there’s always a spark of hope and very little gibbering or futile exclamations of “”I see it– coming here– hell-wind– titan-blur– black wings– Yog-Sothoth save me– the three-lobed burning eye…” at the end. Point being that I can’t see Del Toro capturing the chill of Lovecraft’s universe much less his misanthropic and unremittingly bleak portrayal of existence.
Now if Del Toro were connected to Lovecraft’s Dream Cycle films or something from Dunsany himself I’d be his biggest cheerleader! Having said all that I’d be elated if he did go ahead with AtMoM as he’s a phenomenal talent. And while I’m well aware that none of my choices below would ever be selected to direct a big budget adaptation of AtMoM here goes anyway:
David Cronenberg- I think Cronenberg could capture that all too human discomfort of realizing you’re not only denied dominion of the Earth you’re also rather insignificant in the eyes of the utterly alien entities. There’s a coldness and clinical detachment to Cronenberg’s work which makes the occasional physical and emotional outbursts of violence all the more powerful. He was initially attached to direct The Empire Strikes Back and Total Recall (before Verhoven took over) so I would love to see what he could do with a huge sci-fi horror film.
David Lynch- Whatever you may think of Dune there’s no denying Lynch successfully captured some memorable images and created something unique. Most importantly I think Lynch’s body of work in general has demonstrated his uncanny ability to capture impending dread, paranoia and anxiety unlike any other filmmaker. I’d love to see that in a big budget Lovecraft film.
E. Elias Merhige- He dropped off the radar after Shadow of the Vampire but his film shorts Begotten and Din of Celestial Birds are amazing. Begotten and Din’ come across as alien documentaries chronicling unspeakable atavistic rituals humanity was never meant to observe. Then again, maybe Merhige is better suited for a Call of Cthulhu film… regardless, I hope he returns to filmmaking someday soon. I’d love to see his take on Lovecraft though.
Guy Maddin- He utilizes old film techniques to create these phantasmagoric stories unlike anything on the big screen today. I imagine if anyone were daring enough to set AtMoM in the 30s Maddin would be able to recreate something that touched upon found footage archival images made all the more compelling with a surrealist’s touch. All of his works are great but Brand Upon the Brain is my favorite as it exemplifies his love of old timey cinema, disturbing imagery, and bizarre plots. I can only imagine what he could do with a major studio backed project like AtMoM.
TL;DR version- Del Toro is awesome. 😀
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“While a brilliant visual director everything done to date is missing that sense of cosmic awe I associate with Lovecraft’s fiction.”
I could not agree more… and what a well-thought out post. All I can add is that I agree 100%.
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As long as the cartoonishly over-the-top scientists from Pacific Rim don’t make a reprisal all is go. I don’t want to see an updated version set it today’s hip-and-cool world. So there can’t be any sex kittens posing as “iceologists” or rappers getting their big break in show biz. I don’t want to see the ilk of Vin Diesel or The Rock stink this thing up. Nor Tom Cruise. I’d rather see some unknowns or up-and-comers (perhaps from television) that have made a name but haven’t made it big quite yet. It should be a period piece. It should be shot cinematically, keeping in mind the sense of scale and how tiny and insignificant these trespassing humans are in this frozen world. I’m thinking a visually dark film, gloomy and desaturated. I agree with others on here: If it’s made in the next couple of years, it won’t be by del Toro. But there are other auteurs who could do it justice.
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Like most Lovecraft stories there are going to be some major problems in translating ATMoM to the big screen. Del Toro is without a doubt the obvious choice, especially with Pan’s Labyrinth and Hellboy under his belt. I would opt for John Carpenter, except that his adaptation of Campbell’s The Thing (which I believe was inspired by Lovecraft’s Novella) though a blockbuster in the 80’s would not hold up to today’s CGI infested films. I think del Toro would give us a spin on the movie that even Lovecraft would be pleased with. Of course the actors would need to be chosen from the A list and the Monster’s would be CGI hogs. Just Kidding.
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I’d Like to see del Toro’s usual choice of Ron Pearlman. Timothy Olyphant. I think that if M. C. Gainey got put in tweeds and a pair of those 1/2 moon librairian glasses, would justify the admission price alone. Any ways look how well Tom Cruse did in Collateral playing aganst type. Just my thoughts!
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The IMDb actually reports that both Tom Cruise and James Cameron are pegged as producers while GDT is in between studios. He’s got storyboards finished (courtesy of Universal, who wanted him to tone it down to PG-13, and dropped the project when he refused to make their demands, the idiots) and I’ve actually heard that if Pacific Rim does well, then Lionsgate is going to free him up with a three picture deal which included the creative freedom to do AtMoM and Hellboy 3.
I’m actually excited to be seeing a big-budget, general audience friendly, Lovecraft picture on the assembly line, even if it is a little delayed. The Gentleman of Providence deserves to stand in the limelight and rise above the cult status he is enjoying currently; and del Toro is just the man to do it, even with Tom Cruise attached to the project. One of the things I have noticed about Lovecraft’s writing is that it is just not particularly keen to the general reader, who is most likely well aware of his influence but can’t dredge through his prose. A movie is perfect to communicate his vision and allow people to understand what he is saying without having to read the novella with a dictionary close at hand.
del Toro will always have my support, through thick and thin. And honestly, with the way Lovecraft has been growing in status in recent years, it’s not a question of if. It’s when, and I can see AtMoM showing up in theaters within the next five years… if only because the public wants to see Tom Cruise get eaten by a shoggoth!
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I have always loved GDT’s work-and i think that he will do an amazing job with Mts, Madness. The overall story would be good to cover, but they should pay close attention to the overall darkness of the city when its found as well as keeping the Shuggoth hidden until the very end if not seen at all, but only in glimpses.
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GDT is one busy guy, involved in a ton of different projects. When “Prometheus” came out last year, I think that squashed the “Mountains” project. And Hollywood’s attitude toward big-budget horror is one of extreme trepidation. GDT has a ghost story picture “Crimson Peak” and a TV mini-series “The Strain” upcoming; and if “Pacific Rim” does well in Asia, there will likely be a sequel to that. I just do not see where Del Toro would have time for ATMOM in the next 5 years anyway, and he definitely does not have the funding.
I would love to see GDT’s vision of Lovecraft, but it might never happen.
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GDT Confirmed that Prometheus touched on the major premise of ATMOM and that because of that it would be too close of a reveal and not fresh enough. Its too bad as he clearly loves Lovecraft and the result would have been a real labour of love…
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Yeah and a bad (TERRIBLE) version of Princess of Mars came out a few years before the Disney one. I think Reanimator, Dagon, and maybe the silent Call of Cthulhu are sweet enough , but nothing else has really nailed it and could still be on the table for adaptation.
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Should have been made l-o-n-g ago. John Wayne as Dyer, Fabian as Danforth.
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The Dunwich Horror was filmed in 1970 and 2009. Justice has still yet to be done for the story. Dean Stockwell was in both versions, as Wilbur Whately (1970) and Henry Armitage (2009).
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I’d rather hollywood just left Lovecraft’s work alone. Not everything needs to be made into a movie.
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I agree. To me, much of the appeal of Lovecraft is the use of my own imagination, and a lot of the horror in HPL takes place in merely the shadowy suggestions. Anyway, H’wood has already stolen so many of HPL’s ideas and concepts, there’s not much left to steal….
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I’m not particularly excited about the prospect of the movie, largely because the book consists primarily of two guys walking through some ruins, looking a bas reliefs. The book was great, but that won’t make for a good movie. Maybe they would opt for visualizing the history of the elder things, but that would boil down to a high tech cartoon and still would not get to the bonechilling nature of the book: that sense that the world is truly older than we think and that it contains things we cannot comprehend.
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As much as I’d love to see this, I’d prefer to see another of Lovecraft’s stories adapted. One that is less like The Thing. (I know, Mountains is far older as a story, but not cinematically.)
Many of his stories would be too short, but I think Thing on the Doorstep or especially Dunwich Horror could be feature length and fit Del Toro’s tone.
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I thought Del Toro had made it pretty clear that there were funding issues and it was either Pac Rim OR AtMoM. I hope that I am wrong. I would kill to see this movie made by him. I think he is the only director out there today who could come anywhere near doing the story justice on the screen…
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I think GdT would be the perfect director; other than, perhaps, John Carpenter. The final boss monster in HellBoy was very Lovecraftian and his imagination and attention to detail are excellent.
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Del Toro is the only person in Hollywood I want to see make a Lovecraft movie… He’s got the passion for the material that is clearly needed, and he knows that for the movie to work, it would have to be a brooding hard-R horror movie… I honestly think he could make this classic into a great film, and I hope he gets the chance.
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From memory, Guillermo once stated that he WOULD make At The Mountains of Madness, it was just a matter of time.
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