More Mad Mountains

So, Doug's comment on my post re. the unmade Del Toro Lovecraft movie led me to some interesting links I wanted to share more prominently than in a comment on a comment; hence this follow-up post.

First, there's Doug's own posting on the Wormwoodiana blog, which I highly recommend:

http://wormwoodiana.blogspot.com/2013/08/del-toros-at-mountains-of-madness.html

Essentially I agree with him: the film Del Toro wants to make owes more to THE THING than anything by Lovecraft.

Thanks to the links Doug provided in his post, I was able to find a draft of Del Toro's script for the proposed movie available online via the following site:

http://lovecraftzine.com/2013/08/20/read-guillermo-del-toros-at-the-mountains-of-madness-screenplay/

If you scroll down on that page, you can see a link to someone else's detailed critique of the film script. I agree with some of what that person says, except that he idolizes Lovecraft and this particular Lovecraft story beyond their deserts, or so I wd argue.

As for the script itself, it makes for some interesting reading:*

http://lovecraftzine.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/at-the-mountain-of-madness.pdf

My conclusion after reading it: Del Toro has essentially co-opted the framework of Lovecraft's story as the basis for his re-make of the John Carpenter version of THE THING.

re. David's comment: I don't know if Del Toro cd make a Tolkien movie or not, but what I've seen of his work suggests that's not a good match for him. I wd have thought Lovecraft wd be a better fit, but this script suggests otherwise. I confess I do wonder what he might be able to do with A VOYAGE TO ARCTURUS.

re. Eosphoros' comment: 

It may be as you say; I just have to say that, based on my limited exposure to Del Toro's work, I don't think he'd be a good match for Tolkien. Guess now we'll never know.

--John R.

At the Mountains of Madness

So, I was reading a piece within the last few days about "Interesting Movies Stuck in Development Hell" -- one or two of which sound like they would indeed be interesting, but most of which it sounds like we shd be grateful having been spared. One film I'd put in the latter category is Del Toro's big-budget version of H. P. Lovecraft's AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS. For one thing, I think this is one of the worst things HPL ever wrote* -- long, repetitive, and endlessly coy in describing what's going on. For another, I haven't been so impressed with Del Toto's work in the past** that I think he'd do a good job on Lovecraft. Those reservations grew when I learned, from reading this piece, that Del Toro plans to cast Tom Cruise as the hero. I tried to sit down and think of a major male star today who's less like a Lovecraftian character than Tom Cruise, and I just couldn't come up with one.

Here's the link. Following some of the links on the link lead to more Del Toro concept art, and some discussion of how PROMETHEUS co-opted some of MOUNTAINS' thunder. So to speak.

http://wallstcheatsheet.com/stocks/8-interesting-films-stuck-in-development-hell.html/3/

--John R.
current reading: THE MAGICIANS AND MRS. QUENT by Galen Beckett (just finished)
THE BLACK CAULDRON by Lloyd Alexander (just started)


*yes, I'm aware this is a minority opinion. Nonetheless, I'll take the DREAM-QUEST over MOUNTAINS anytime.

**I'm one of those who think we dodged a bullet when he dropped out of THE HOBBIT and Jackson took over directing that movie himself.