It was widely assumed Guillermo del Toro’s next film would be At the Mountains of Madness at Universal Pictures based on H.P. Lovecraft’s novel of the same name with Tom Cruise starring. However, over the last few days rumors of a June start date turned into confirmation the film was dead. Reasons stated for the project being canned was the hard-R rating and a $150 million budget.
In an interview with Deadline del Toro, however, states the $150 million budget was something Universal set, not him, and the R rating was always in place. When asked why Universal decided to pull the plug del Toro said, “You may think I’m being glib, but I don’t know. Since the day of the decision, I haven’t had a face to face with them.”
The director said other studios approached him to make the film with a smaller budget and a PG-13 rating, which is something he said would be to make it “the wrong way.”
So, after bailing on directing The Hobbit and now his passion project biting the dust (for now), he needs something to do and that something will be Pacific Rim for Legendary Pictures reports Deadline.
This is no surprise to those that have been keeping track as it was first mentioned del Toro was eying the project last Fall when it was confused with the Godzilla remake Gareth Edwards (Monsters) is helming.
Written by Travis Beacham (Clash of the Titans), Pacific Rim is a creature feature set in the near future in which malevolent creatures threaten the earth. The planet must band together and use highly advanced technology to eradicate the growing menace.
The project has already entered pre-production and will begin principal photography in September 2011 with a plan to hit theaters summer 2013. Ironically, del Toro left working on The Hobbit due to production delays and now that film is already underway and will hit theaters December 2012.
Del Toro comments on his current run of luck in the Deadline interview saying, “I have passed discreetly on a number of high profile projects last year in order to save myself for a project that I’ve been shepherding. That was Mountains, and now it seems like it’s going to be Pacific Rim. In both instances, these are projects I am generating.”
As for the fate of Mountains, I’m not taking it out of the database yet. Del Toro comments saying, “The beauty of it is, in the last few days, I spoke to Tom, who has been incredibly supportive and who said, ‘Let’s keep going, let’s make this movie down the road.’ He’s definitely that interested and that happy where we were creatively. So we have good legs to travel on, if the time and the opportunity present itself. But we’re going to fight for that to happen.” I have a feeling should Pacific Rim do gangbusters and people have del Toro’s name on their lips once again after what will have been a five year absence once Pacific Rim hits theaters, the money for Mountains may suddenly appear.
Either way, Guillermo del Toro fans can finally look forward to his next film as Pacific Rim sounds like a sure-thing.
