io9
An insider tells io9 that Guillermo Del Toro, the monster-obsessed director behind Hellboy II and Pan's Labyrinth, is definitely not doing Hellboy III. Apparently up until a few weeks ago, he was talking about a third installment as a possibility but now this looks very unlikely indeed. Losing Del Toro could ruin the franchise — but could get the director working sooner on a very cool project slated for 2010.
Hellboy II is coming in July, and previews make it obvious that the flick will be full of Del Toro's signature dreamy crawlies. It's hard to imagine a third Hellboy without Del Toro at the helm, given that a flair for creative visual design are the bedrock of the first movie and Mike Mignola's freaky-dark comic book. At the same time, I'm glad if that means Del Toro will move onto other projects sooner. He's got some interesting stuff up his sleeve . . . such as a movie version of H.P. Lovecraft's ancient alien war story "At the Mountains of Madness," due out in 2010.
"Mountains" is my favorite Lovecraft story, and contains not just Cthulhu's Spawn but also the winged, tentacled crustacian Mi-Go and the starfish-headed Old Ones. Plus, the gigantic, polymorphous Shuggoths! I know Del Toro will know just what to do with all those crazy monsters.
Comments
Maybe he's making room to work on "The Hobbit"? Maybe...maybe...please god...maybe?
@hortense: Why would he be? Jackson is now confirmed for it as per 2-3 weeks ago.
Oh man, I would love to see Del Toro's take on that story. The director could make all the difference in these things, and I need my fantastic, sublime ice-scape fix, after Chris Weitz actually managed to make Lyra Belacqua's adventures in the Arctic mostly boring. I expect the director of Pan's Labyrinth could do much better with the Antarctic and its nameless horrors.
Hortense: I was hoping C.H.U.D. IV
No! Benicio, NO! You can't have Mountains of Madness.
It's mine.
Seriously, though? Hellboy was some tedious shit.
@Falconfire: Jackson has been confirmed as producing the Hobbit. He's said he's not directing it.
I think Raimi is the current favorite to direct it, since he ahd expressed interest at one point. That'd be nice, but I'll wait for official confirmation.
@braak:Tedious shit? Odd. That was always my description of Lovecraft. Unspeakable, undescibable, incomprehensible monsters always just off stage...Lurking, lurking, lurking.
How about Heinlein's "The Puppet Masters" for onstage creepy guys?
Also, I think del Toro is beyond "probably monster obsessed", he started his career in make-up and creature design. So it makes sense that he uses them so well. That and his consistent use of Doug Jones is amazing.
@wishnevsky: A valid point--partially. Many (really, most) of Lovecraft's monsters were described with a startling amount of detail. One of the clever bits in Mountains of Madness, I think, is the scientific clarity with which he describes the Old Ones, and the juxtaposition of that to the Shoggoth in the basement.
But I'll admit that Lovecraft is a particular and acquired taste.
Maybe the Hellboy movie is, too. I don't think so, though. I think it's just kind of boring.
@wishnevsky: Not always. H.P. did some good traditional horror stories, the Outsider is a good example. Pickman's Model has a good deal of lurking, but he doesn't spare on the adjectives and the ending gave me chills when I first read it.
The Cthulhu mythos does have a great deal of lurking and indescribable monsters, but you can't judge an author by the... majority... of his work. *cough*
@Ghede:
Since the Cthulhu Mythos now includes work by R.E. Howard, E. Hoffman Price, Robert Bloch, August Derleth, Ramsey Campbell, Brian Lumley, Stephen King, T.E.D. Klein, Sam Rami, and William S. Burroughs, to name just a few, the venue no longer belongs exclusively to its progenitor.
Anyone rent the HELLBOY animated features Del Toro produced?
when GDT is done with Hellboy 2 he will have been involved in 6 hellboy projects. so he could be board with it. the director two movies the producer of the 3 animated tv movies and the video game. all of this he did with Mike Mignola.
The animated tv movies are much more BPRD then Hellboy.
Hellboy Sword of Storms was great and Blood and Iron was good.
GDT recently said he would love to make HPL MoM but is having trouble finding a producer.
@Cacafuego:
Yeah. It was great.
If HELLBOY II does well enough at the box office, I wouldn't be all that surprised if Mignola "pulled a Frank Miller" and got announced as director of a third installment himself. He's certainly spent long enough working behind the scenes on these two, and the first two BLADE movies, and hell, even Disney's ATLANTIS to be a credible choice.
@braak: There is a theme anthology, "Shadows over Baker St" which is all Holmes and Watson splashing around in sewers, except one or two great stories.. I like Elizabeth Bear's one where Irene Adler goes tiger hunting.
@Ghede: I really liked "The Colour Out of Space." I think that was Lovecraft, no?
@Dybbuk: I actually liked the first movie, but had never seen the comics. The character was fun, the Nazis boring.
@wishnevsky: Yes. It's also the basis for a poor adaptation called the Curse, which I believe featured Wil Wheaton.
I'd argue that "The Colour Out of Space" and "Haunter in the Dark" are by far his two best stories. Some people stand up for "Shadow Out of Time," but those guys can go to Hell.
it i good that there wont be a third we don't want this to go down the road of the jazz dancing, Bee Geez listenin' (shudder) spider-man 3
@ihtdet: Considering the lovecraftian theme of this post, nothing could be more horrifying then Cthulu swooping down, whilst humming "Stayin' Alive" I should think...
*rocks back and forth, traumatised*
Del Toro, mind you, could tackle The Atrocity Archives instead. Just an idea.
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