After much speculation as to what he may direct now that he has left the director’s chair for The Hobbit, it is looking that Guillermo Del Toro has chosen his next project – his long in gestation adaptation of H. P. Lovecraft’s classic horror novella At The Mountains Of Madness.
Deadline is reporting that Del Toro will be shooting the film in 3D for Universal Pictures. James Cameron has signed on to serve as a producer. Don Murphy and Susan Montford have been tied to the project as producers for years as Del Toro has tried to get a studio interested in greenlighting the project. The project was first developed at Dreamworks in 2004. Warner Brothers came close in 2006, but then backed off. Universal became involved when Del Toro signed with the studio in 2007 to direct Hellboy II.
Pre-production should start on the film in the next couple of weeks as Del Toro gives the script a polish. Cameras should roll next summer.
Lovecraft’s classic story chronicles an expedition to the Antarctic that uncovers an ancient city with secrets that relate to the very origins of mankind. And even though it is millennia old, the mysterious city is not as abandoned as one would think. For fans of Lovecraft’s work, the novella helps ties together several other short stories involving elder beings who have visited Earth and influenced its history into a cohesive mythology.
If you’re unfamiliar with the novella, and shame on you if you are, you can read it here.
