Guillermo del Toro’sAt the Mountains of MadnessMay Rise Again Thanks to Streaming

If directorGuillermo del Torohas a undivided passion labor — although he seems to have many — it ’s his movie adaptation of the H.P. Lovecraft novellaAt the Mountains of Madness . He ’s been working on it for 15 years , to no avail , but it change by reversal out that might have inadvertently function in theAcademy Award - winningdirector ’s favor .

First , a lilliputian backstory : del Toro and screenwriter Matthew Robbins wrote an At the Mountains of Madnessscreenplayback in 2006 , only for Warner Bros. to clear it had no desire to release a close adaptation ofany Lovecraft stories , which usually swap hero sandwich and romance for monsters , mounting dread , and insanity . However , Universal Pictures nabbed the right field to circulate the movie and charter Tom Cruise to be the lead … only for Universal to realize it also had no desire to release a faithful version of aLovecraft story , but rather a PG-13 activity smash hit interpretation of it , which del Toro refused to do .

But on Fangoria ’s Stephen Kingpodcastthe Kingcast , host Eric Vespe and Scott Wampler latterly had a prospect to check up on the undertaking , which they very much did . Del Toro ’s response were very interesting :

Guillermo del Toro speaks at a 2019 San Diego Comic-Con panel held at the Horton Grand Theater on July 20, 2019.

Guillermo del Toro speaks at a 2019 San Diego Comic-Con panel held at the Horton Grand Theater on 29 April 2025.Photo: Daniel Knighton (Getty Images)

“ The Kingcast : With the ongoing human relationship you have with Netflix , do you believe there ’s any chance that you might you loop back around to At the Mountains of Madness at some dot ?

Guillermo del Toro : Well , listen that was … take a wild guess which were thefirst projects I present , you know ? [ laughs ] I rifle through the cupboards and found [ The Count of ] Monte Cristo , [ At the ] Mountains of Madness . Those were a dyad of the single I presented first . The matter with Mountains is , the screenplay I co - save 15 eld ago is not the screenplay I would do now , so I take to do a revision . Not only to scale it down somehow but because back then I was trying to bridge over the scale of it with elements that made it somewhat be able to go through the studio machinery . You get it on ?

The Kingcast : Yeah , megahit - y.

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Del Toro : Blockbuster - y. And I believe I do n’t need to conciliate that anymore . I can go to a far more esoteric , weirder , smaller version of it . You know , where I can go back to some of the view that were left out . Some of the big set pieces I designed , for example , I have no appetence for . Like , I ’ve already done this or thatgiant set part . I find like run into a weirder counsel . I cognise a few matter will stay on . I have intercourse the termination we have is one of the most challenging , weird , unsettling endings , for me . ”

director can rail againststreaming servicesall they want for forcing ( grant ) masses to look on motion-picture show at home , but these military service are all so hungry for substance — specially Netflix and Amazon Prime Video — that they ’ve allowed all sorts of projects that would n’t be made in the normal studio system , or at least not without voluminous notes designed to give the film the broadest collection potential , which inescapably makes it less alone . We could have had another horror movie turn into a stinking activity flick , likeTom Cruise ’s The Mummy . Instead , we might get an adaptation of one of H.P. Lovecraft ’s most far-famed works directed by a man who wants to do it as much ( horrific ) justice as possible .

I hump which motion-picture show I ’d prefer . And if you want to try the repose of del Toro ’s interview , head over to the Kingcast — it ’s definitely worth a listen .

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