Guillermo del Toro is determined to make his dream project, an adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS, a reality, even if it means having to go with a PG-13 rating.
del Toro has been trying to get AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS made for years, and at one point the project found a home at Universal Pictures with none other than James Cameron serving as a producer and Tom Cruise circling the lead role. The film was to have been shot in 3D on a budget of around $120 million, but unfortunately the studio pulled the plug over concerns whether the film could reach a wide enough audience to justify the massive budget, especially since del Toro was aiming for an R rating. But the project isn't completely dead as del Toro recently spoke with the Wall Street Journal about his desire to see the film happen, even if it means shooting for a PG-13 rating, sharing…
That’s exactly what I discussed with them. I said to them, that’s the movie that I would really love to do one day, and it’s still expensive, it’s still … I think that now, with the way I’ve seen PG-13 become more and more flexible, I think I could do it PG-13 now, so I’m going to explore it with [Legendary], to be as horrifying as I can, but to not be quite as graphic. There’s basically one or two scenes in the book that people don’t remember that are pretty graphic. Namely, for example, the human autopsy that the aliens do, which is a very shocking moment. But I think I can find ways of doing it. We’ll see. It’s certainly a possibility in the future. Legendary was very close to doing it at one point, so I know they love the screenplay. So, we’ll see. Hopefully it’ll happen. It’s certainly one of the movies I would love to do.
Perhaps with a more marketable PG-13 rating Legendary and Universal can help del Toro finally make this project happen. del Toro has the upcoming CRIMSON PEAK and the recently announed PACIFIC RIM sequel on his plate (not to mention his upcoming FX series "The Strain" heading our way this summer), but we've been most excited about the possibility of an adaptation of AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS and want to see it happen, even if we have to settle for it being a PG-13 film.
We'll keep you posted on news regarding this one as we hear it.