At The Mountains Of Madness & Guillermo del Toro

This movie is still in early production phases but Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth, Hell Boy, The Devil's Backbone) definitely has the visual eye to bring something like this to the screen. One can say that he has a flair for presenting us with an odd fantasy atmosphere (though the possible casting of Tom Cruise has left me....cold).

He was to direct the new adaptation of The Hobbit (though I believe he is still at the typewriter for this project) but has since moved on the Lovecraft. From J.R.R. Tolkien to H.P. Lovecraft. Maybe he should consider R.E. Howard too?

Anyway, a quote from an interview:

"Obviously, the difference between the novella and the movie is that Lovecraft had a gift for making everything specifically ambiguous. He would say 'the leering face loaded with madness,’ or 'the evil perverse entity of unnamable'… everything was unnamable, indescribable. When you're reading you go,'Whoa!' your brain fills those spaces. For every creature, everyone has a secret mental image of what those creatures look like. It's going to be impossible to please everyone."

"I've been thinking of those monsters for twenty years. Fortunately for me no one has done monsters like the ones I'm doing. In all the movies ever made there's never been monsters like the ones we're doing. About two weeks ago we were visited by Dennis Muren. He looked at the designs, and he turned to us and said, 'No one has seen monsters like this ever.' I was like, [boyish grin] 'Yeah!' I was happy and vindicated and all that."

I'd say it sounds interesting. He at least has the intuitive understanding of Lovecraft. But will he be able to translate that effectively onto the screen? Well, only time will tell.

A bit more here...

Not a production still from the upcoming movie.