'At The Mountains Of Madness' Adaptation Finally Comes To Fruition

H.P. Lovecraft is arguably the most influential Horror, Fantasy and Sci-Fi writer of the 20th century. And now via Filmonic, longtime fan of Lovecraft's, a unique and crafty visionary himself, Guillermo del Toro, is directing the adaptation of the acclaimed novella with James Cameron producing the Real-D for him. 

Yes, I'll wait while you go and change your boxers. Now get back here and read the rest of this shit son!
First off, this is the kinda stuff that get's studios real excited, this is the kinda stuff that fans dream up in their heads but never think will happen, like fantasy baseball or football for normal people or whatev. So you readers not so familiar with the film world need to understand the magnitude of this project. 

• One of H.P. Lovecraft's most celebrated works.
•  James Cameron producing it and ushering the Real-D. 
• Guillermo Del Toro Directing. 
• With Tom Cruise possibly staring?

Dude. . .  Son. . .  Boyo. . .

Back in 2006 del Toro scripted the novella with a buddy and brought it to Warner Bros. But according to Guillermo, “they very nervous about the cost and it not having a love story or a happy ending.” This movie is a hard R as well. But now Cameron attached as the producer Universal quickly handed over the money to get things movie. Universal and it's film slate has been in trouble pretty much all year now, with Skyline and Little Fockers looking as their only saving throws.  This property looks to be a good thing for Uni, for Cameron, for del Toro, and for other studios to take chances and throw some good money on hard R epic horror blockbuster films with an edge. From an article in Wired, Cameron talks about the project himself:

Cameron has told me in the past that he is not passionate about producing.

“Well, yeah, then Guillermo came along,” he says. “In this particular case, I’m working with Guillermo because I enjoy his company, and a creative collaboration is something that we’ve talked about doing for a long time.”

“It’s going to be an epically scaled horror film and we haven’t seen anything like that in a really long time — I guess since Aliens.”

Like the novella on which it’s based, the film will take place in the Antarctic, where humans encounter a race called the Ancient Ones. “The thing about Lovecraft is that he left a lot to the imagination,” Cameron says. “He never told you what they looked like. He managed to create a sense of creeping horror without specifics.”

“Guillermo brings an eye for design that is so original and so quirky and so steeped in the lore of movie design and horror design, but always fresh and unexpected. Frankly, I just want to see what he comes up with and I want to enable the nuts and bolts of the production so he doesn’t have to worry about that. I want to help him work in 3-D.”

Alrighy son. With that shit settled and out of the way, we need our stars, right? Universal rightfully wants McAvory to lead the film, as he will be huge coming off X-Men: First Class and still having some power behind 08's Wanted. But Guillermo has been trying to work with Cruse for years now and even got close with a Van Helsing project, so that's the star he wants. Me too. But unfortunately Cruise doesn't have the draw he used to, and with the disappointing turn out of Knight And Day universal is understandably under confident about Cruises ability to attract audiences. 

Cameron producing a Real-D movie with Guillermo directing should be enough. Well, as far as the characters go, I know there's five total, all male, the two most important are these dudes in this summary, (which I stole from Filmonic):

The lead role in question in that of William Dyer, the narrator of At the Mountains of Madness. He is a professor of geology at Miskatonic University and leader of the disastrous Pabodie Expedition to Antarctica in 1930–31 in which the team discovers alien specimens hibernating.

There is also a meaty role for the second lead. Danforth is a graduate student at Miskatonic University and as part of the Pabodie Expedition he accompanies Dyer on a survey flight over the “Plateau of Leng” and goes mad after seeing something. He is described as “a great reader of bizarre material”.

How could they give the professor to McAvory when Cruise could so easily sell being older and an established pro? He barely looks thirty years old McAvory. I say, cast 'em both, and give the grad student to McAvory. This film is expected to start principal photography in May 2011, with 3-D cameras. Both actor's as of now have their schedules filled, but that doesn't mean they won't be able to shoot by next summer. 


I'll be keeping you posted on this project and who get's what for what. 


Munki excitedly out.