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Guillermo del Toro Isn't Done With At the Mountains of Madness

A new episode of FANGORIA's THE KINGCAST podcast dropped today, one which finds Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro (The Shape of Water, Pan's Labyrinth) chatting with us about his favorite Stephen King novels, what makes clowns so damn scary, and, of course, this month's Nightmare Alley. But if you think we were gonna' let him outta there without asking about the status of his long-gestating adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness, well, buddy, you are sorely mistaken.

Early in the episode, del Toro has this to say upon being asked whether or not his working relationship with Netflix might lead to one of his oldest passion projects finally making its way to screens:

Well, listen, take a wild guess which were the first projects I presented, you know? (laughs) I went through the cupboards and found (The Count of) Monte Cristo, (At the) Mountains of Madness. Those were a couple of the ones I presented first. The thing with Mountains is, the screenplay I co-wrote fifteen years ago is not the screenplay I would do now, so I need to do a rewrite. Not only to scale it down somehow, but because back then I was trying to bridge the scale of it with elements that would make it go through the studio machinery...

I don't think I need to reconcile that anymore. I can go to a far more esoteric, weirder, smaller version of it. You know, where I can go back to some of the scenes that were left out. Some of the big set pieces I designed, for example, I have no appetite for. Like, I've already done this or that giant set piece. I feel like going into a weirder direction.

I know a few things will stay. I know the ending we have is one the most intriguing, weird, unsettling endings, for me. There's about four horror set pieces that I love in the original script. So, you know, it would be my hope. I certainly get a phone call every six months from Don Murphy going "Are we doing this or what? Are you doing this next or what?" and I say "I have to take the time to rewrite it."
And when might that happen? Says del Toro:

"Right now I'm developing two screenplays, one of which I think will be right away next. I'm busy finishing Pinocchio, producing Cabinet of Curiosities in Toronto and I'm settling down from the post-pandemic sort of domino [effect]. Everything that I had spaced out for three years, all of a sudden the deliveries came all at the same time. But it is my hope."

 

Doom85

Member
Please for the love of god stop making movies. They're awful and the fact that he's reading Stephen king makes it more awful.

ZeE4SFF.jpg
 

Ionian

Member
Please for the love of god stop making movies. They're awful and the fact that he's reading Stephen king makes it more awful.

Pans Labyrinth was an absolute masterpiece. I'm sure I posted before that wish I hadn't seen it so I could watch it again. I've watched it so many times. Every time the ending hits me like a rock.

Lady on the water, wasn't crazy about that one. I enjoyed it but was a bit weird even for my tastes.

And his house, bloody hell. Looks like a museum to horror. Only he makes his horror so beautiful it can barely be classed as scary.

EDIT: ending clip, don't click it before watching the film. It spoils everything.

 
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jason10mm

Gold Member
I still don't see why AtMoM has to be so expensive. It's not like they would be location shooting in Antartica. Unless he had elaborate and extensive flashbacks to the old times in there with giant practical sets and massive amounts of CGI or something. Quite frankly the less of that stuff they show the better. This is something a relatively modest 50-80 mill should easily cover.
 
You know what's crazy boys ? We have/had all kinds of big budget sci-fi/fantasy and even horror movies for decades and yet, for some reason, having/producing an H.P Lovecraft themed film that isn't bottom of the barrel, horrible low budget shit is apparently impossible, i mean, shit, i really don't get it, HOW fookin' hard is it ? Why hasn't anyone stepped up ? It really says something when that silly Dagon (2001) film is considered the "best" when it comes to Lovecraft films - The Void (2016) and Colour out of Space (2019) don't count (the latter was kinda "OK" though).

Some will say that it's because it wouldn't find a proper audience 'cause "Cosmic/Lovecraftian horror" would be really hard to convey but, if you think about it and strip the "cosmic" out of the equation it's still just "horror" - it just has to be the good kind, meaning, you need some good cinematography (and the atmosphere that derives from it) and acting, these aren't Marvel movies where you need a gazillion dollars budget for special effects, in fact, keep it simple, the less you show the better (like another poster already said).
Since we're talking about the mountains of Madness the above would hold especially true, i mean, you just need an arctic environment, some GOOD cinematography, acting and direction - how hard would that be ? Desolation + explorers + icy environment has always worked well in (horror) films.

Also - and this is my personal opinion - have you watched The Witch and/or The Lighthouse ? Robert Eggers is g'damned amazing and would be a good candidate for these kind of films, dude knows his shit when it comes to proper cinematography, atmosphere and tension - and i assume he does everything on a minimal budget.
Don't get me wrong, Del Toro is also amazing with his whole (dark) fairy tale-esque aesthetics in his films and i love the guy but, somehow, i think that he's not the right kind of director for these type of films since AAA budget/production/special effects that (now) come with his films would not be the right approach.

I'm dying, dying to see a "proper", well-made Lovecraft movie.

PS : forgot to mention The Banshee chapter (2013), while being a low-budget effort it still had the proper atmosphere that a Lovecraft film should and it goes to show that these type of films don't have the need of a big budget and that mostly need a good atmosphere.
 
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jason10mm

Gold Member
There was also "Underwater" with Kirsten STewart. That was about as lovecraftian as it can get. Heck, "The Abyss" is practically a lovecraft film just with a slightly more benevolent twist at the end. I'd argue that films like "Bird Box" are lovecraftian AF, it's all in how you change the tone. Is it the depressing "we are all dead in the end!" vibe that makes it lovecraftian or just an unknowable callous force interacting with us?
 

teezzy

Banned
Please for the love of god stop making movies. They're awful and the fact that he's reading Stephen king makes it more awful.

He's one of the few mainstream directors I can think of who actually interests me still these days

However, I respect your highly contrarian opinion here

Rock on

What movies do you enjoy?
 

Ribi

Member
Look at the fucking movie connoisseur right here. You're even more pathetic than I thought.
Only thing that's pathetic is those shit movies. Let me guess death stranding is your favorite video game too
 
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