Cool News
Guillermo Del Toro to make H.P. Lovecraft's AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS!!!
Hey folks, Harry here... On and around December 22nd of last year, Guillermo Del Toro and I were hanging out in the AICN screening room talking about dream projects. You see, Peter Jackson's LORD OF THE RINGS: FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING had just opened to resounding financial and critical success.
The conversation quickly turned to the movies, above all others, we would love to see get made... or to make. A lull in the conversation sat in after we talked of HELLBOY and MEPHISTO'S BRIDGE... a pair of Guillermo's dreams, when I suddenly blurted out.... "You know what you should make Guillermo?"
"What Gordo?" Guillermo intoned.
"You should make H.P. Lovecraft's AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS!!!"
Guillermo screamed with agreement and shock at me. Turns out that he had begun work two days prior in trying to secure the rights to AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS and that it was going to be "My Lord of the RIngs!" His passionate work that he'd spend years to bring to life.
AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS is my favorite work of H.P. Lovecraft. The fossil expedition into the interior of the Antarctic peaks... The discovery of that door... The ruins, the bones of things not natural... The artifacts... The City.... The Old Ones! This is horror. This story by H.P. Lovecraft is horror writing at its absolute pinnacle.
I first read AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS years ago when I thought John Carpenter was making it, turned out he was making Michael Deluca's IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS... which definitely had Lovecraftian overtones. And strangely enough, it looks like Deluca is going to be bringing this to life over at DREAMWORKS.
I'm not sure if that's the right studio. I hope they let Guillermo make the film he will make. That they give him the same freedoms to create his dream work, as New Line did with Peter Jackson on his. Folks, this could be a full fledged masterpiece.... Now join hands and pray to Cthulhu
Blade II" director Guillermo del Toro is negotiating
with DreamWorks to direct "At the Mountains of
Madness," an adaptation of the H.P. Lovecraft novel,
reports Variety. Del Toro will write the script also.
If that is true, fuck Hellboy! I want to see a GOOD
Lovecraft adaptation NOW!
I expect a long column on the matter on your awesome
site.
Greetings from Spain
Singal
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+ Expand All
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Mmmmm...Old Ones...
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A Lovecraft movie? Cool, we've seen several films referred to as being Lovecraftian, would be great to see one that is out and out Cthulu mythos based, and GDT is a great director, who is good at capturing creepy stuff like that very well (Chronos is easily one of the freakiest horror films I've ever watched!)
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YES YES YES YES YES YES
in the words of Ben Kingsley.
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Wow....this should be really interesting. I hope Dreamworks let's Del Burro make something as uncommercial and artistic as possible. On a side note, anyone read the novel Sea of Glass by Barry Longyear (author of Enemy Mine)? That would be a project I would LOVE to see put on sceen. Anyone ever Try?
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"Collect Call of Cthulhu" on the old "Ghostbusters" cartoon. Come on, the two professors were named Howard Phillips and Clark Ashton! You know I'm right...
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Mar 26, 2002 1:31:42 PM CST
I squwash Elfkiller for his FIRST posting, LOTR hating ways
by expfcwintergreen
You little shit, Elfkiller.
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But you can try, Gordito.
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Whispers in Darkness is MUCH better.Trully the creepiest story Lovecraft ever wrote in his time.
None the less, with GDT doing Madness, it should be fucking great! -
i've been waiting that Del Toro gives us hellboy for more than 3 years.So please,DO IT.
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This is great news. But somehow I am starting to doubt Guillermo will make all the films he is developing. I mean: Mephisto
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A fully realized Lovecraft project is my cinematic wet dream come true!! I'm shakin' the chicken feet as I type, Harry!
By the way, VincentSpain. You have obviously never actually read Lovecraft else you wouldn't be so evidently talking out YOUR ASS. -
i still prefer shadow over innsmouth
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Especially after having seen Blade II this past weekend. RON PEARLMAN IS HELLBOY! DO IT BEFORE SOMEONE ELSE STEALS IT FROM YOU AND PUTS THAT ASS VIN DISEL IN THE ROLE DAMMIT!
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this story kicks ass and is super creepy, but I'll take any good Lovecraft story.
and he WAS a sick fuck. Had a horrible like, just like Poe. -
You know.. I love good 'ol H.P. as much as the next guy but the Old Ones can remain in their ancient and dreadful slumber for just a little longer ... HELLBOY needs to me made NOW!!!.. let's stop screwin' around people!!!.. I want to see the Beast of the Apocalypse whip up on some frozen Nazis and their unnatural minions! make HELLBOY dammit!!!... don't make me beg
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My fav Lovecraft, too, although I haven't read any of the Cthulu-related stories, but I've read quite a few of his stories and this is the coolest. This could be the Lovecraft movie that's actually Lovecrafty. Or it could be a work that just doesn't translate to the screen, but either way, I say give it a try. I'm happy. Not that that's a vote against Hellboy.
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... at the Mountains of Madness is actually very cinematic! It also has the right length for a feature film adaptation which is also a plus because as much as I trust del Toro I don
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Finally all those living sacrifices to Shub-Niggurath, the Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young are paying off! Ia! sk
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This project has just been announced! It will probably take YEARS until it gets made. I hope del Toro brings the same no-bullshit attitude to this project that he has kept for HELLBOY. Which means that if some suit insists on casting THE ROCK in At the Mountains of Madness del Toro will tell him to go fuck himself.
As for what is REALLY next for del Toro ... I guess nobody knows right now, not even del Toro himself. In all the recent interviews he said either HELLBOY or MEPHITSO -
I like Lovecraft but I don't think his work translates well to the screen though. His stories are all about subtly and implied horror. I don't care how "buddy-buddy" Harry is with Del Toro, Blade 2 was bad in every possible way. I refuse to beleive that Del Toro can make an interesting adaption of Lovecraft. There's nothing scary about CGI monsters.... By the way,the best movie with a Lovecraft connection is "Cast a Deadly Spell", not that it has anything to do with Lovecraft aside from some minor inspiration.
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Speaking of tons of del Toro projects: In the del Toro biography on the UK DVD of DEVIL
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i never read this one(i`ve to read it NOW though) but i love his short stories. told on a fire in wild nature....superb!!! let`s hope del toro will rule them all.
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Mar 26, 2002 3:36:04 PM CST
Maybe Del Toro's the only director who would take the materi
by cash bailey
Thanks to the Yuzna assembly-line of low-budget shit, I doubted anyone of any substance would ever seriously attempt to film the unfilmable.
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...with one of the thousands of celebrities I lunch with daily, I just happened to realize that I helped to inspire every great film ever made. I am truly influential. Brilliant ideas flow from mouth with unabashed candor, just waiting to be scooped up by autuers from all nations. My radiating influence and ingenuity are absolutely unappreciated by all of you who aren't brilliant enough to be in the film industry by association, like I am. It's a crime, really.
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Lovecraft must be the least subtle writer in a field that is glutted with crazed hyperbole and madmen. The real trouble that most people have in adapting his stuff, not to mention the trouble it has in garnering sober criticism, stems from the fact that Lovecraft, though a real visionary, was a horrendous writer. The power is rooted in his endless repetitions, his spit-flecked fervor, his xenophobic racism, his agorophobia, his fear of women and the utter lunacy of his descriptions. Subtle no, a good writer? certainly not. But a bona fide madman, yes indeed. HFilm makers always go for the same pitch of lunacu and invariably lapse into comedy, intentional or otherwise. Jeffry Combs is still the ultimate HP hero on screen. Shub Niggurath Ngh Ngh Aaaah!
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Mar 26, 2002 4:24:26 PM CST
The power is rooted in his endless repetitions, his spit-flecked
by scott1458
????????????????
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I doubt this is more than a pipe-dreamquest, but if it ain't I hope its made by spooky Cronos del Toro, not wet-chinned thighsplitter del Toro. Spookiest HPL story is defo Colour out of Space but it would make a crap film, espesh with a Dreamworks CGI err... colour. **subtitle - that's "color" to you colonials** Lovecraft is frequently turgid, but when he gets it together then he's the best of the pulp era. Any one out there read "House on the Borderland" by William Hope Hodgson?
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Interesting....I was just at Creature Corner and read the review of Stuart Gordon's "Dagon" (which is apparently quite satisfying), when I thought about what a great film this would make...
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Mar 26, 2002 4:49:39 PM CST
Chimps with Guns + Pneumatic Nazis = Box Office Smash!!!
by godoffireinhell
They should use that to pitch HELLBOY! The suits would love it!
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Indeed I fully agree, Harry. At the Mountains of Madness is the best HPL story. I hope this one will turn into a really good Lovecraft movie, for a change :)
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Yes, his writing is full of racism, fear of women, florid language, unsophisticated structure, etc. This is good. This is the voice he uses. He's not writing in the literary style. He's using every tool at his disposal, including "bad writing", to creep you out.
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Mar 26, 2002 5:45:18 PM CST
More details about the "At the Mountains of Madness" film
by godoffireinhell
Straight from www.comics2film.com comes this:
Del Toro Eyes Lovecraft Feature
Posted: Tuesday, March 26, 2002
by R. Worley
While fan's are hoping Guillermo del Toro follow-up to the hit Blade II will be the movie version of Mike Mignola's Hellboy, today's Variety suggests something else.
According to Michael Fleming's Dish column, Del Toro is negotiating to help an adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's novel At the Mountains of Madness for DreamWorks. The director will write the script with Mimic collaborator Matthew Robbins.
Michael De Luca set up the deal. Susan Montford will produce along with Don Murphy of Angryfilms.
"This will be my epic horror film," Del Toro told Fleming." -
Until now I thought that "El Gordo" was some sort of nickname for Guillermo del Toro. For example, here is a quote from Harry
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There you go...
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I hate it when old books are made into movies and updated to a modern day setting. Why would they do that? and it is only for sci-fi or horror films. What if they had updated Gone With the Wind, or The Godfather? Would they have been as good? hy does every War of the Worlds film project have to be modern day? I want to see vicorian London flattened by giant walking Martian machines, not modern day New York. I want a 1900-1930's Lovecraftian horror film, not a modern day gore fest like we have gotten so far.
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Anyone who thinks this guy can't direct like a motherfucker because they didn't like Blade 2 has not seen The Devil's Backbone, which in my book easily beat Amelie for Best Foriegn Picture (and I love Jeunet!). DB was absolutely incredible in every respect, and I have no doubt in del Toro's ability to direct a stunning Lovecraft movie. Oh yeah, and in true AICN spirit, ALL YOU FUCKING RETARDS WHO DISSAGREE WITH ME ARE A BUNCH OF FUDGE-PACKING CUMCHUGGERS! (See, I even got in the slightly panicky homophobic overtones)
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read it online, save a buck or two. http://www.gizmology.net/lovecraft/works/mountains.htm
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I, too, hope that whenever "Mountains of Madness" gets made that someone will have the wisdom to set the story in its appropriate time period. All screen adapted HPL stories should be set in their proper eras. I am not, however, holding my breath. There is a persistent belief among Hollywood suits in a horror called "The Curse of the Fedora."
Yes, they actually call it that. It is the idea that the prime 18 to 25 movie-going demographic will run hissing like vampires from a crucifix from any film that smacks of "period." I'm serious. If we should ever see "At the Mountains of Madness" in any form you can bet that the location will be changed from Antarctica to Aspen and the protagonists will be a gaggle of x-treme snowboarders eating nachos and punctuating everything
with a stoned "Whoa, dude, did you just, like, see a buncha, like, tentacles waving around behind that pile of glyph-carven stones? Whoa, duuuude, that is some kick-ass shit we're smokin!" Oh, yes. Trust me.
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But I will try not to get my hopes up. "At the Mountains of Madness" is also my favorite Lovecraft piece, written at the peak of his powers. It is one of the great mood stories of all time. Horror? Yes, but so much more. So I will be on my knees praying: please don't fuck this up. Please.
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Thanks for that link. This is one of the only Lovecraft stroies I haven't read - never been able to find it. It's like THE THING, you say, Harry? Sweeeet!
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Mar 27, 2002 1:58:36 AM CST
Unfortunately, "Mountains" is probably my LEAST favorite Lovecra
by st buggering
It's long, slow, dull, and without event until the very end. It's just an archaeological expedition that discovers the true history of the earth, in the actual way that archaeological expeditions do; by examining evidence and looking at stuff. This isn't terribly exciting reading, and I fail to see how a great film can be gleaned from this. Then again, I find the Lord of the Rings pretty dull too, and that worked out. But "Mountains" is going to take some serious padding to work as a film.
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This will rock big time!
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I do enjoy Lovecraft's work. At it's best it is exceptionally dark and disturbing but sadly the first story I ever read was 'At the Mountains of Madness' and it was soooooo BORING! It took years of nagging by a friend to go back to it and read others (which I'm now glad I did). MoM starts off really well with the discovery of the butchered Arctic expedition and the diary recounting the discovery of the strange creature frozen in the ice. Solid Lovecraftian stuff. Sadly, after that comes page after page of NOTHING! Nothing happens. The central character wanders around in some ice caverns doing nothing of interest for tens of pages - pretty much most of the so-called story. I'd love to see a decent film adaptation of a Lovecraft story too but they seem to end up as b-grade slasher flicks (take the recent Dagon or the Un-nameable and Unnameable Returns) for example). Lovecraft has the potential to redefine the Horror movie genre if done properly but nobody seems willing.
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That gets my vote as one of HPL's stories which has the most immediate potential to be overtly scary and freakish. It has a great ending too, sort of "How I learned to stop worrying and love Cthulhu." One story I would love to see adapted is Algernon Blackwood's "The Willows" ( which, I believe, can also be found online ). This is one of the most utterly creepy tales I have ever come across, and though it is short on gruesome imagery, it conveys an appalling sense of dread and impending doom. Truly great atmospheric horror. I read it as a small boy and have never ever forgotten it.
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In Hellboy Seed of Destruction, which is what Del Toro said he is basing his film on, there is a lengthy flashback involving arctic explorers finding a mountainside cave containing the old ones. Why not just do Hellboy then? You've got the best imagery from Mountains of Madness plus nazi killing, monkey robots and tons of other cool stuff! You can't go wrong! Do Hellboy first!
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At last! I've been praying for over a decade now that someone would have the balls and the vision to take on a serious adaptation of "At The Mountains Of Madness". If I'm really lucky, Del Toro will both respect the source material and be allowed to develop it without studio interference. I might win the lottery, too. :)
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I will sacrifice my firstborn to the Goat with a Thousand Young if this is actually made! All hail Cthulhu!
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. . . was that cold, awful Christmas when my mommy and daddy told me the truth . . . that there is no such thing as Cthulu.
Nice illos! Forrey Ackerman lend 'em to you? -
I see this film as a modern day "Raiders of the Lost Ark" with elements of a mystery civilsation as seen in "StarGate" along with the creepy horror of John Carpenters version of "The Thing". I'd like them to use a similar musical score to the upcoming "Spiderman" movie. Oh yes, now this would be a movie I'd pay the $9 a person the theaters in San Diego are asking for.
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Maybe his style grates these days, but his vision was original and that old story (thanks for the link, Buttered Elk Meat, hadn't read it in 20 years!) still does the job - you still want to know what happens, and there's still a claustrophobic creepiness to the last third. A movie? Depends if the studios think an audience is patient enough to sit through a script where the majority of the action is reported, heard or happens "offstage", until that last act. The explorations and the confusion and dawning realization in the labyrinth called to mind one of the best "weird" novels of recent years: "House of Leaves". Check it out: a film-maker buys a house and find it's expanding on him - internally. So he starts filming his journeys into the "inner space". Well, that's the simple version. No demons or horrors or Old Ones, but very tense, and it would make an interesting feature with the right director.
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Mar 27, 2002 8:26:51 PM CST
St Buggering: "It's long, slow, dull, and without event unt
by pops freshemeyer
Doesn't that pretty much describe every Lovecraft story? I know what Hell is, and Hell is gonna be shelves and shelves of books, only every single one was written by Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, and Mercedes Lackey. Not to mention a stack of those fucking Death Dealer books. Jesus, I'm fucked...
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I agree with sithlord7 that the Chris Sarandon flick is probably as good as any H.P. Lovecraft-inspired flick gets, RE-ANIMATOR and FROM BEYOND notwithstanding. And I cannot believe I am going to stop on my way home tonight at B&N and buy yet again all the Lovecraft books I can find. This will be my second or third time buying up Lovecraft editions. I no longer keep my books with the exception of big hardbound or trade-size editions, so maybe if I am really lucky I will find a hardbound or trade-size anthology of Lovecraft stories that can stay put in my house for a few years. I have found editions like this at B&N (some of them published by B&N at truly bargain rates) of Poe, H.G. Wells, Saki and Dahl. Maybe B&N has done the same for Lovecraft. He certainly deserves one. As for the MOUNTAINS news, if DelBurrito can do half as good a job as the Sarandon flick, there is hope! So few Lovecraft-inspired films have been worth watching, and I have seen every one of them. I happen to love the monster in THE UNNAMEABLE, but the mangled plot was straight out of a teens-caught-in-a-creepy-house-with-a-slasher flick. Recently saw THE DUNWICH HORROR again, and it wasn't bad. Wasn't much good, either. I recall a version of THE SHUTTERED ROOM that was shot in the UK about 30 years ago (with Carol Lynley and Gig Young, I think) that was pretty good. God knows what it looks like today. The big problem with most Lovercraft stuff is it simply does not translate very well cinematically. He was not writing with the movies in mind, and most film adaptations come off pretty bland as a result. They usually don't end on the right note, as Lovecraft often doesn't end his many of his stories in a satisfactory (film-style) fashion.
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glad to be of assistance.
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There is no better author ever! I can't wait to see this get made. Hopefully they'll make a movie version of Shadow of Innsmouth, Call of Cthulhu, the Whisperer in the Darkness, and a more true to the book version of the Dunwich Horror....whoa, pleasure overload!
Lovecraft is awesome.
Hail Cthulhu!
Hail Yog Sothoth! -
I'm consistently amazed by the number of people who post here, enthusung about some project or other, who then admit to not having read the FREAKIN' SOURCE MATERIAL! Jeezus Bob, what's with you people? First it was LOTR:FOTR, and now this bullshit. "I love HP Lovecraft, but I've never read 'At The Mountains of Madness'" This is like saying, "Well, I like Melville, but I've never read 'Moby-Dick'"! "Madness" is the crowning achievement by our foremost and best pulp horror writer--a man without whom Steven King and Clive Barker would not be the names they are today (and I'm not the one saying that--ask King himself, he'll tell you). Lovecraft raised pulp writing out of the morass of crap that it existed in prior to him, and gave it a literary sensibility that has never been equaled. The only ones that come close are RE Howard and HR Haggard. Lovecraft deserves a good movie, after the butchery of his work that has occurred in the past (Die, Monster Die; The Curse; The Dunwich Horror). I say go for it, Del Toro! Make the Old Ones proud! Ia! Cthulhu ftagn!
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who himself admired the slightly earlier works of Hodgson and Lord Dunsany. I really like Lovecraft, but he can't sustain a novel in the same vein as "Boats of the Glen Carrig" or "Borderland". Dunsany doesn't count as pulp fiction, but Dreamquest and all the associated short stories are influenced by him. Also proof that Tolkien redefined fantasy, but he didn't invent it.
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Enquiring minds want to know. This has been out of print on VHS for wayyyy too long.
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...but, honestly, although I like his work, HPL just comes across better to the modern reader (at least that's the vibe I get). And since the chances of getting a Dunsany (or Arthur Machen, for that matter) film made are nil, HPL is the best we can hope for. Hey, maybe if del Toro's version of "Mountains" makes it big, he (or maybe Peter Jackson?) might do a "Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath" film. Jeezum crow, just think what del Toro could do with that, especially if he got Wayne Barlowe to do the design work...(*drools on self, thinking of Barlowe's rendition of HPL's "Gug" from the Guide to Fantasy*). I mean, hey, Barlowe's worked with del Toro, Barlowe's done HPL, del Toro wants to do HPL, del Toro is a great fantasy director, Barlowe is an astounding fantasy artist, what could be more natural? I'm getting all tingly just thinking about it...unless that's the three-lobed Burning Eye of Nyarlathotep I can feel...
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well let's see how far studios go in milking fantasy sources now that FOTR has chalked up so much. Although Celephais to Sarkomand would use up more CGI than I generally like, and not even New Zealand can pass for the Vale of P'nath. Also, Nic Cage is probably already eyeing up the part of Randolph Carter. Now that's what I call sanity-blasting.
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Keep in mind fellas, that pulp fiction writers were paid per word. So of course, HPL would use vast amounts of verbage and wordage to pad his stories. (Robert Howard did it also.)
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...you wouldn't understand
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Nice name, I must admit. Yay, Gormenghast.
But: Tsk, tsk, tsk. I'm not going to apologize for HPL's social life, that's already been done many-a-time with some good and not-so-good excuses and acquittals of his behavior, but: does a writer's neuroses make his [or her] work automatically bad?
PS: I think Ghyarmo should do (1) Hellboy (2) At the Mountains of Madness and then (3) Wind and the Willows. Make them a trilogy. I'd really like to see something good and Lovecraftian with a decent budget but, at the same time, I think there's an equal chance of it being bad or good. Hellboy, on the other hand, is very cinematic and, based on Devil's Backbone (I'm seeing Blade II tonight), I'm sure he can pull it off. -
Yesssssss!!! Can't believe it's real! Lovecraft rules! Don't see why this nazi-based OMEN-stuff back-to-the-castle makes you all so excited. At The Mountains Of Madness is what I'll be waiting for... no matter for how long. Let's hope they won't f@#$ up this one, keep your fingers crossed. I'm for Lovecraft, but well in spite of being damn happy about this project I have some doubts: ATMOM is a great book, but will it make a good movie??? I wish it did! The movie is gotta be perfect (I mean atmosphere, Antarctic, year 1930 and stuff) or never made at all. About how to achieve the atmosphere in HPL adaptations I suggest reading an article at www.gizmology.net/lovecraft/movies/critique.htm (for script-writers and directors, especially)
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