Guillermo Del Toro says At the Mountains of Madness is "Dead"

Yesterday there was a flurry of activity surrounding Guillermo Del Toro and his muchy hyped passion project, At the Mountains of Madness. The big budget, potentially R-rated film was hinted at starting up in June by a producer, who quickly retracted the statement. Then shortly thereafter, news starting surfacing about Universal's hesitance to put so much money behind a potential box office loser, even though it has the support of James Cameron and potentially Tom Cruise starring. Pacific Rim, a monster movie Legendary Pictures has high hopes for, was put up as a possible next movie for Del Toro to tackle. 

While all that was going on, Criterion Cast had emailed Del Toro about the potential start date, and by the time he got around to responding it was clear he wasn't in the mood to elaborate further. His response is short and sweet: 

“The opposite-  Dead. – G”

He could've saved some folks a healthy dose of carpal tunnel if only he'd read his email more often. This puts to bed what has to be a very disappointing chapter in Del Toro's career. At the Mountains of Madness was the filmmaker's baby, and he spent a good deal of time and energy prepping the film. On the other hand, I understand Universal's position. They've been kicked in the teeth by a string of flops over the last year(lookin' at you Scott Pilgrim!!) and want to dive into something a bit more secure for now. 

I assume Pacific Rim is still on the table for Del Toro. Under anybody else's guidance I probably wouldn't be at all interested in it, but if there's a director who can inject it with some much needed creative juice it's Del Toro.

Thanks to The Playlist for the heads up on this story!