Guillermo Del Toro Still Working On ‘At The Mountains Of Madness’ Adaptation

Once upon a time, Guillermo Del Toro’s film adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s At The Mountains of Madness was in development at Universal. However, the highly anticipated project was shelved about a decade ago, disappointing diehard horror fans. But as it now seems, not all hope is lost. On the latest episode of FANGORIA’s Stephen King-themed podcast The Kingcast, Del Toro revealed that his vision for Mountains of Madness is still in the works.

When asked if his working relationship with Netflix could potentially lead to a revisiting of Mountains of Madness, Del Toro assured that the story was one of the first projects he pitched to the studio. “The thing with Mountains is, the screenplay I co-wrote fifteen years ago is not the screenplay I would do now, so I need to do a rewrite,” explained Del Toro. “Not only to scale it down somehow, but because back then I was trying to bridge the scale of it with elements that would make it go through the studio machinery...”

Essentially, Del Toro feels that Netflix would be more open to an artistic interpretation that doesn’t cater to the masses. “I can go to a far more esoteric, weirder, smaller version of it. You know, where I can go back to some of the scenes that were left out.” According to Del Toro, the interest in the adaptation is there. It’s just a matter of rewriting the script.

While this is certainly great news for fans of Lovecraft’s science fiction-tinged horror, we shouldn't expect a Mountains of Madness movie in the immediate future — Del Toro is far too busy. His Nightmare Alley comes out later this month, and he's also putting the finishing touches on Pinocchio and producing Cabinet of Curiosities in Toronto. Still, he said it is his “hope” to complete the project eventually.

Get our free mobile app