Tales from Development Hell: At the Mountains Of Madness

[David Flin]

Comment on this article by @RyanF here.

Mind the strange angles.

 

[Alex Richards]

I think one difficulty of spinning from a reasonably successful single film to a cinematic universe or franchise is going to be Del Toro's habit of taking on oodles of projects and not having the time for them. He clearly viewed this as a passion project, would the next suggestion be the same way?

 

[Charles EP M.]

Pacific Rim benefitted hugely from Del Toro's style and ideas so if he's unavailable that franchise probably stays a minor curio.

 

[Thande]

The fact that they completely missed out the Lovecraft parody sequence from the Sky One curate's egg adaptation of "The Colour of Magic" speaks volumes I think - I am not a Lovecraftian but I think it's reasonable to say that the SFX needed to even try to do justice to the descriptions has only come into existence recently. You can cover some of that with acting ability, as in some classic Doctor Who episodes for instance, but it can only stretch so far. The del Toro proposal described here is probably the earliest it could realistically have been attempted.

 

[RyanF]

I think one difficulty of spinning from a reasonably successful single film to a cinematic universe or franchise is going to be Del Toro's habit of taking on oodles of projects and not having the time for them. He clearly viewed this as a passion project, would the next suggestion be the same way?

I can definitely see him being offered, but when has refusal by the main creative force behind a popular film been a deterrent to Hollywood?

Pacific Rim benefitted hugely from Del Toro's style and ideas so if he's unavailable that franchise probably stays a minor curio.

That too could have butterflies for Legendary's 2014 version of Godzilla, and the subsequent MonsterVerse of giant monster pics from that studio.

The fact that they completely missed out the Lovecraft parody sequence from the Sky One curate's egg adaptation of "The Colour of Magic" speaks volumes I think - I am not a Lovecraftian but I think it's reasonable to say that the SFX needed to even try to do justice to the descriptions has only come into existence recently. You can cover some of that with acting ability, as in some classic Doctor Who episodes for instance, but it can only stretch so far. The del Toro proposal described here is probably the earliest it could realistically have been attempted.

I think it depends on which Lovecraft you're adapting. "Herbert West-Reanimator" was pretty well realised in the 1980s with practical effects but that's fairly mundane as far as concepts go. In contrast, "The Colour Out of Space" strikes me as something that would be difficult to realise with any level of special effects technology but that didn't stop Roger Corman from trying in the mid-60s with Die! Monster! Die! The change in title is reflective of a change in tone. Should say I've not seen the more recent adaptation of "Colour" starring Nic Cage.

As to At the Mountains of Madness, I could really see it being produced at any time from the 1950s to the 1980s with a mix of stop motion and practical effects. Whether you believe that technology could do it justice is perhaps more a question of personal preference. I do think you're right in the sense that as soon as the CGI boom starts with Jurassic Park (stay tuned for the next article in this series!) that the CG effects specifically needed to do it justice wouldn't have been in place until fairly recently.

 

[Alex Richards]

I can definitely see him being offered, but when has refusal by the main creative force behind a popular film been a deterrent to Hollywood?

True, perhaps the better way to phrase it is 'spinning from a single successful film to a successful franchise.'

The Third del Toro Hellboy is one that I'd have most liked to see. Particularly because you can tell they ended up incorporating a lot of elements of the script into the later reboot and it, uh, just doesn't work to try and put the origin story in the climax.

 

[RyanF]

True, perhaps the better way to phrase it is 'spinning from a single successful film to a successful franchise.'

The Third del Toro Hellboy is one that I'd have most liked to see. Particularly because you can tell they ended up incorporating a lot of elements of the script into the later reboot and it, uh, just doesn't work to try and put the origin story in the climax.

The project of his I'd be most interested in seeing brought to completion is the Silent Hills game that was shown in P.T.

To be discussed in the an article in my horror series coming soon!

 

[Hendryk]

As a fan of Lovecraft since early adulthood and someone who enjoys Del Toro's cinematic style, I had high hopes for that one when it was initially floated.

 

[M_Kresal]

Such attempts could easily generate controversy given Lovecraft’s well-documented racist views. 2014 saw the World Fantasy Awards change their statuette from a bust of Lovercraft. A successful adaptation of At the Mountains of Madness could see such controversies not only happen sooner but also more prominently.

On the other hand, a successful film might have kept Lovecraft's bust on the award. There's the example of the US Treasury deciding to keep Alexander Hamilton on the $10 bill after the musical Hamilton brought him back into the limelight, with a campaign to keep him on bill following from its success. Not that the musical's own presentation of Hamilton's life didn't present controversy in some circles, but I wonder if a successful film might have made someone think twice before taking Lovecraft off the award or, given what happened around the 2020 Big Finish Doctor Who audio The Lovecraft Invasion where an extra scene was dropped in to deal with Lovecraft's issue in light of events taking place in the real world around the time of its release, might have merely delayed the inevitable.

 

[Charles EP M.]

On the other hand, a successful film might have kept Lovecraft's bust on the award. There's the example of the US Treasury deciding to keep Alexander Hamilton on the $10 bill after the musical Hamilton brought him back into the limelight, with a campaign to keep him on bill following from its success. Not that the musical's own presentation of Hamilton's life didn't present controversy in some circles, but I wonder if a successful film might have made someone think twice before taking Lovecraft off the award or, given what happened around the 2020 Big Finish Doctor Who audio The Lovecraft Invasion where an extra scene was dropped in to deal with Lovecraft's issue in light of events taking place in the real world around the time of its release, might have merely delayed the inevitable.

I think it just delays it - he was not just racist by his own time's standards, it shows up in the stories and everyone has known & commented on it for decades. You'd still have calls to change the awards and a delay will lead to more ill-feeling about why it was dragged out.