Guillermo del Toro, the man of a million projects (wisely) in development, has made overtures about giving his H.P. Lovecraft adaptation of At the Mountains of Madness another shot.
The project died at Universal back in 2011 due to budget issues, and recently del Toro seemed leery of reviving it due to perceived similarities with Ridley Scott’s Prometheus. Well, he saw Prometheus and he doesn’t think it’s such a stumbling blaock after all.
Speaking to the Playlist he said, “I’m going to try it one more time. Once more into the dark abyss… We’re gonna do a big presentation of the project again at the start of the year and see if any [studio's] interested… Tom [Cruise] is still attached. I think it would be so fantastic to make it with him. He’s been such a great ally of the project.” As for Prometheus he says, “Not really, I saw it finally and.. yes, there are things in common, but, you know, screw it. Lovecraft was there first!”
The would-be H.P. Lovecraft adaptation “tells the story of geologist William Dyer, a professor from Miskatonic University. He writes to disclose hitherto unknown and closely kept secrets in the hope that he can deter a planned and much publicized scientific expedition to Antarctica. On a previous expedition there, a party of scholars from Miskatonic University, led by Dyer, discovered fantastic and horrific ruins (including strange fossils of unheard-of creatures and carved stones tens of millions of years old) and a dangerous secret of the City of the Old Ones that lay beyond a range of mountains taller than the Himalayas.”
You’ll be able to see GDT’s directing chops back in action when Pacific Rim opens on July 12th.