Guillermo del Toro is not known for his grounded dramas, so when the man behind the likes of Pan’s Labyrinth and Hellboy says he wants to “go weirder” with his adaptation of the H.P. Lovecraft horror At the Mountains of Madness, you know that things are going to get really off the chart. The story is one of Lovecraft’s best known tales, despite it initially taking five years for anyone to publish it, and is one of his many written works featuring the shoggoth, which form part of the gothic writer’s Cthulhu mythology, and as with many of Lovercraft’s works, is one that would need a special touch to make a successful transition to screen.

Guillermo del Toro could well be that special touch as he has been developing the movie for almost sixteen years with Matthew Robbins, who co-wrote the original script for the project. Despite his credentials, the award winner has failed to get a studio behind the project, with Warner Bros. having passed on it a number of times. That doesn’t mean that the director has given up on the project just yet, even though it has been almost a decade since any reference has been made to the film.

While it seems like the project should be now dead after this long, it is worth noting that del Toro did at one point have James Cameron on board to produce with Tom Cruise leading the movie, but the director’s adamant stance that the film would be R-rated led to Universal pulling the plug on that one, as their preference was the more profitable PG-13 rating, although that would go against everything Lovecraft’s writing conjures up. While it could be argued that the current surge in R-rated horror movies, and the availability of many streaming platforms looking for exclusive content, right now could be the best chance of getting At the Mountains of Madness made.

Talking about his current intentions for the project while discussing Stephen King’s IT on The Kingcast podcast, del Toro revealed that he now wants to rewrite the project with a weirder edge. He said:

"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. 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. I don’t think I need to reconcile 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 scenes that were left out."

"Some of the big set pieces I designed, for example, I have no appetite for. Like, I’ve already done this or that giant set piece. I feel like going into a weirder direction. I know a few things will stay. I know the ending we have is one the most intriguing, weird, unsettling endings, for me. There’s about four horror set pieces that I love in the original script. So, you know, it would be my hope. I certainly get a phone call every six months from Don Murphy going 'Are we doing this or what? Are you doing this next or what?' and I say 'I have to take the time to rewrite it.'"

While it may still be some time before we get to see At the Mountains of Madness, if at all, del Toro fans have a few imminent projects to look forward to from the fantasy and horror master, with Nightmare Alley heading to theaters on December 17th, and his stop-motion musical take on Pinocchio expected to be released on Netflix in 2022.