Tag: Guillermo del Toro

James Cameron Says His 'Fantastic Voyage' Remake At 20th Century Is Going Ahead "Very Soon"
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James Cameron Says His ‘Fantastic Voyage’ Remake At 20th Century Is Going Ahead “Very Soon”

Before James Cameron got locked in for a heap of “Avatar” sequel films, he was trying to put together a remake of the 1966 body horror/sci-fi film “The Fantastic Voyage“ with producing partner Jon Landau, where he was originally planning to direct himself at 20th Century Fox and those reins would shift over to his pal Guillermo del Toro with a planned shoot in Toronto. Things fell apart, and everyone moved on to other things, suggesting “Fantastic Voyage” was thrown into limbo during the studio’s merger with Disney. There are now teases from Cameron that the remake is not only getting resurrected under Disney/20th Century Studios but could be happening in the near future.

Cameron has shared a brief update during a Q&A session at a new exhibition of his production artwork (Cameron is also an accomplished artist in his own right and goes back to his production design days) at Paris’ Cinematheque Française (via Variety), where he said their long-gestating remake of the 1966 film is about to go forward “very soon.”

“We’ve been developing it for a number of years, and we plan to go ahead with it very soon,” Cameron said at the Paris event. “Raquel Welch is not available, but we think we can make a pretty good movie.”

In order to save a scientist who has developed a blood clot in his brain, a team of Americans in a nuclear submarine is shrunk and injected into Benes’ body. They have a finite period of time to fix the clot and get out before the miniaturization wears off.

However, he didn’t exactly clarify who would be directing and if del Toro would still be involved as he’s busy shooting a “Frankenstein” adaptation for Netflix that stars Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth, Christoph Waltz, Charles Dance, Lars Mikkelsen, Felix Kammerer, and David Bradley. Guillermo is also expected to follow-up with his stop-motion animation movie “The Buried Giant“ at the streamer too.

Cameron moving out of the way for an ambitious project to get made isn’t a new thing, as “Alita: Battle Angel” was a similar situation, where Robert Rodriguez was selected to complete Cameron’s vision for the cyberpunk anime/manga adaptation, and while being a massive creative force on “Terminator: Dark Fate” tapped Tim Miller (Deadpool”) to direct. Hypothetically, Cameron could decide to make it himself, but given his responsibility of completing “Avatar 3” and “Avatar 4,” with the studio’s schedule, it seems unlikely.

SOURCE: VARIETY

Posted on in Film News, News

Guillermo del Toro Reflects On Developing His Never-Made ‘Star Wars’ Movie As “Good Practice”: “We Had The Rise & Fall Of Jabba The Hutt”

Oscar-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro (“The Shape of Water”) could fill a room with all the unmade projects he’s either developed or has been courted for over the years. Some of those projects include a feature film version of H.P. Lovecraft‘s “At The Mountains of Madness” starring Tom Cruise (A seminal sci-fi horror tale that inspired the likes of “The Thing” and the “Alien” franchise), the sequel to “Pacific Rim,” a series at Marvel/ABC focused on “The Hulk,” and the most infamous being “The Hobbit” movies that passed to Peter Jackson, reluctantly.

Last month, we learned of another big studio project that he was developing with his “Blade II” screenwriter, David S. Goyer, that didn’t get made either. That is a feature film set in “Star Wars” focusing on “the rise and fall” of Jabba The Hutt in the criminal underworld. While del Toro had mused in previous interviews about making a “Godfather”-type story within that universe, it wasn’t until Goyer mentioned that they had actually tried to get it made and had worked on the script at Lucasfilm for it.

Guillermo del Toro raises some Hellboy | Georgia Straight Vancouver's source for arts, culture, and events

Now, del Toro is reflecting on that experience while chatting with Collider at a Q&A that was held this week and isn’t terribly upset about it not really coming together.

“I believe a movie is going to happen when the Blu-Ray comes out, that’s when I know things are going to happen. In the last moment, things go away. I’ve had it happen many many times. We had the rise and fall of Jabba The Hutt. So, I was super happy, and then it’s not my property, it’s not my money. It’s one of those thirty screenplays that goes away. Sometimes I’m bitter, sometimes I’m not. I always turn to my team and say ‘Good practice, guys. Good practice. We designed a great world, we designed great stuff, we learned.’ So, you can never be ungrateful with life. Whatever life sends you there is something to learn from it.”

If you consider what happened within “The Book of Boba Fett,” it might have made a “Jabba The Hutt” project a little redundant as you likely would have seen similar elements. It’ll be interesting to hear if “Fett” got the Jabba thing erased or if they used things developed by del Toro/Goyer in that series produced by Robert Rodriguez. However, given how inventive the Lucasfilm creature shop has been since “The Force Awakens” the potential of an alien creature-focused “Star Wars” movie with del Toro behind feels like such a loss for fans of both “Star Wars” and the filmmaker himself.

Next up for del Toro is a retelling of Mary Shelley‘s “Frankenstein” at Netflix with a cast that consists of Oscar Isaac, Mia Goth, Andrew Garfield, and Christoph Waltz. Filming on that according to the director is aiming to start sometime in February.

Anyway, you can watch del Toro’s thoughts on that experience in video form below.

SOURCE: COLLIDER

Posted on in Film News, News

‘Pacific Rim 2’: Guillermo del Toro Wanted Rinko Kikuchi & Donnie Yen To Lead His Sequel, Exited Due To Studio Losing Stages In Toronto

Sometimes when sequels are made they don’t often look like the original incarnation of that follow-up from the development stages and the same can be said about Legendary’s haphazard sequel to Guillermo del Toro‘s “Pacific Rim.” There had been an attempt by del Toro to return for the sequel but left due to some studio hijinks that left them without a stage facility to make the film in a timely manner. His exit from that kaiju-vs-robots sequel was a lot more avoidable than you might imagine.

While speaking with Collider recently, the filmmaker revealed that he ultimately didn’t return to make “Pacific Rim 2” because the studio, Legendary, according to del Toro, let their access to stages at Pinewood Studios Toronto (Where the first film had been shot) expire by not paying the deposit needed to hold them and would have further delayed production with the promise that they could simply shoot the film in China. However, del Toro wanted to do location shoots in China after scouting but mainly do that stage work in Toronto. Instead, del Toro passed after the studio lost the stages they needed in Toronto and moved on to his Oscar-winning film “The Shape of Water,” which as you might expect he shot in Toronto alongside Buffalo, New York.

The Mako Mori test | Karavansara

He revealed that Rinko Kikuchi‘s Mako Mori (Adopted daughter of Marshall Pentecost), the female lead of the previous installment was poised to take the reigns from Charlie Hunnam as the lead of del Toro’s version of “Pacific Rim 2.” Along with the aim to get Hong Kong action star Donnie Yen (“Rogue One,” “John Wick 4”) a key role as well. Yen and del Toro had previously worked together on “Blade II,” where the actor had played a member of the vampire black ops team, The Blood Pack, but didn’t last very long in that picture.

“The main character for me in many ways was Mako Maori…I wrote a phenomenal role for Donnie Yen, I wanted Donnie Yen. I wanted Donnie Yen to star in a damn mainstream movie, I was all for [filming in China]. We did scout in China and we were going to do location shooting [in China] but [for] stage I wanted to be in Toronto.”

Legendary decided not to use those actors in del Toro’s desired capacity. Pivoting to “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” actor John Boyega playing the never-mentioned son of Pentecost as our new main protagonist. The main leg of the sequel’s production took place in Australia with director Steven S. DeKnight (“Daredevil”) at the helm, making his feature film debut on a rather massive studio film which is infamously a make-or-break situation on such a large project.

Ultimately, “Pacific Rim: Uprising” wouldn’t be as much of a hit with critics or audiences as it only mustered $291 million which was $100 million less than the last movie had made ($411 million). Guillermo also admittedly never ended up watching the version the studio made and made a flowery comparison to “home movies from your ex-wife.” Adding, “They’re terrible if they’re good and worse if they’re bad.” That line got some chuckles from the audience at the Q&A that Collider was hosting.

Just the other day, del Toro had stated that Tom Cruise nearly had a big role in the original film and was wanted for Idris Elba‘s part but it ultimately didn’t work out.

You can watch that full exchange between del Toro and Collider’s Steve Weintraub below.

SOURCE: COLLIDER

Posted on in Film News, News

‘Pacific Rim’: Guillermo del Toro Reveals He Originally Wanted Tom Cruise For Idris Elba’s Part In The Kaiju Action Pic

Once upon a time, there was a time when Guillermo del Toro and mega-star Tom Cruise almost worked together on a massive R-rated feature film version of “At The Mountains of Madness.” The film obviously didn’t come together because of creative differences between del Toro and Universal, along with the insane demands from the studio to get the budget to where it needed to be. Mainly, attempting a PG-13 version which likely would have deflated the vision del Toro for his take on the H.P. Lovecraft sci-fi horror tale.

Well, while speaking with Collider, the filmmaker revealed another sci-fi project they almost worked on together and it was his big mainstream attempt at a robots versus kaiju film, “Pacific Rim.” Instead of Cruise being wanted for the main role in the film they had actually wanted him to play Idris Elba’s mentor and commanding officer character, Marshal Stacker Pentecost. Of course, when they decided to pursue Elba after Cruise wasn’t an option they ended up rewriting the part.

Stacker Pentecost Suite | Pacific Rim (Original Soundtrack) - YouTube

“Oh yeah. The two models for ‘Pacific Rim,’ the two models for the screenplay, are ‘Hoosiers’ with Gene Hackman and Top Gun. So, the part that Idris Elba plays, Tom Cruise was gonna do it, and I even had a karaoke. The deal couldn’t be made. He wanted to do it. We were developing stuff, and he couldn’t do it. I thought, ‘You know what? Let’s go with Idris Elba then. He’s a god.’ Obviously, I had to rewrite it for that, but I thought it was gonna be an interesting analog to do that. It would have been a lot of fun.”

Of course, Tom Cruise did attempt to dabble in more action-centric sci-fi genre projects such as “Edge of Tomorrow” and “Oblivion” which came out the same year as “Pacific Rim” before mostly sticking to his “Mission: Impossible” films alongside the recent “Top Gun” sequel “Maverick.” Stacker would end up dying in the film only for a son we had no idea even existed, played by John Boyega, who became the main lead in the studio’s follow-up installment “Pacific Rim: Uprising.” It’s still pretty wacky that Universal and Warner Bros. wasted a potential team-up between Cruise and del Toro, another fuck-up of epic proportions by agencies/studio executives.

Hopefully, the two will eventually work together at some point.

PACIFIC RIM: Long ago, legions of monstrous creatures called Kaiju arose from the sea, bringing with them all-consuming war. To fight the Kaiju, mankind developed giant robots called Jaegers, designed to be piloted by two humans locked together in a neural bridge. However, even the Jaegers are not enough to defeat the Kaiju, and humanity is on the verge of defeat. Mankind’s last hope now lies with a washed-up ex-pilot (Charlie Hunnam), an untested trainee (Rinko Kikuchi), and an old, obsolete Jaeger.

SOURCE: COLLIDER

Posted on in Film News, News

Christoph Waltz Joins Cast Of Guillermo del Toro’s ‘Frankenstein’ Movie Alongside Andrew Garfield, Mia Goth & Oscar Isaac

During a chat with Collider, filmmaker Guillermo del Toro‘s has revealed that two-time Best Supporting Actor Oscar winner Christoph Waltz has joined the cast of his upcoming retelling of the iconic sci-fi horror story, “Frankenstein.” Waltz is likely best known to audiences for working alongside director Quentin Tarantino in the period action films “Django Unchained” and “The Inglourious Basterds.” A film that del Toro says he’s been trying to make for 50 years but now believes he’s “crazy or brave” enough to attempt it now.

The actor joins a cast that already boasts talent such as Oscar Isaac (“Ex Machina”), Mia Goth (“Infinity Pool,” “Pearl”), and Andrew Garfield (“The Social Network”).

Frankenstein | Book by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Bernie Wrightson, Stephen King | Official Publisher Page | Simon & Schuster

You might remember that a while back when Universal was trying to resurrect the Universal Monsters franchise, an attempt was made by del Toro to get a new “Frankenstein” move off the ground there but ultimately that didn’t happen. Luckily, for the filmmaker since the story is from the Mary Shelley novel published back in 1818 and is in the public domain, he was free to try again at Netflix but would have to come up with his own Frankenstein design that doesn’t infringe the one copyrighted design by Universal Pictures.

There is now an assumption the design del Toro has landed on is from the late comic book artist Bernie Wrightson, who himself did illustrations for a version of the Frankenstein story (pictured in the above header image). His version of Dr. Frankenstein is the spitting image of Oscar Isaac, which could suggest that’s the role he’s been cast in. Wrightson also helped co-create DC Comics anti-hero “Swamp Thing,” a character that del Toro nearly put on the big screen in his incarnation of the “Dark Justice League” before he eventually moved on to other things.

Another tidbit about production was revealed too as they hope to get cameras rolling sometime in February, but likely will rely on the actors’ strike being resolved in the near future by the AMPTP offering/accepting a fair deal with the union.

Guillermo won an Oscar statue earlier this year for his other Netflix feature film, “Pinocchio.” And previously earned two other Oscars for “The Shape of Water” such as Best Picture and Best Director back in 2018, the filmmaker’s take on “The Creature From The Black Lagoon.”

You can watch his exchange with Collider below.

SOURCE: COLLIDER

Posted on in Film News, News

‘Star Wars’: David S. Goyer Wrote A Jabba The Hutt Movie Script For Guillermo del Toro & Jedi Origin Film Set 25,000 Years In The Past

The volume of unmade “Star Wars” projects keeps growing as we’ve now learned of TWO other films that had been in development by screenwriter David S. Goyer (“Blade,” “Batman Begins”). The longtime comic book film writer has now dished to the Happy Sad Confused podcast (See video below) that he not only was involved with a “Star Wars” film for Oscar-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro (“The Shape of Water”) “four years ago” but also another film that would have explored the origins of the Jedi set 25,000 years before the events of the original film from 1977.

The latter movie sounds a lot like what the “Game of Thrones” showrunners D.B Weiss and David Benioff had been reportedly developing at Lucasfilm before their own exit and what currently writer/director James Mangold (“Logan”) is trying to put together with his own take on the early days of The Force/Jedi.

Goyer and del Toro had previously worked together on the first big Marvel Comics sequel, “Blade II.”

There was once a time when del Toro had mused in an interview with Yahoo! back in 2015 about potentially tackling a Jabba The Hutt movie comparing it to a gangster film within the “Star Wars” universe by citing the “Godfather” saga as his inspiration.

“I would do the sort of ‘Godfather’ saga that Jabba the Hutt had to go through to gain control,” he said. “One, because it’s the character that looks the most like me, and I like him. I love the idea of a Hutt type of mafia, a very complex coup. I just love the character.”

However, given the poor reception of “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” gestating plans for other spinoff films that had been in the works such as Kenobi and Boba Fett feature films were scrapped. Later on, they were both resurrected as Disney+ miniseries. It’s possible whatever del Toro/Goyer was cooking up ultimately got shelved when the studio decided to focus on their streaming series.

UPDATE: Guillermo has confirmed on Twitter that it was indeed his Jabba project.

I’m not exactly sure what Lucasfilm was thinking by turning down a Jabba film from a recent Oscar-winning filmmaker, but you have to imagine that now with this information out in the wild people are going to be questioning that choice on the stuido’s part.

You can watch/listen to that exchange below.

SOURCE: HAPPY SAD CONFUSED

Posted on in Film News

Guillermo del Toro’s Next Stop-Motion Film ‘The Buried Giant’ Officially Lands At Netflix

On the hells of the critical success of Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio with a Best Animated Feature Film nomination for next month’s Academy Awards ceremony, the genre filmmaker is looking to return to the world of stop-motion animation with another upcoming project titled The Buried Giant and based on the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro (Never Let Me Go). Previous reports had revealed del Toro is already working on a script with Dennis Kelly (Utopia, Matilda The Musical) and they’ll begin designing the film very soon with animation studio ShadowMachine reuniting with the director after working on Pinocchio.

Earlier in the week, it was officially announced by Netflix that The Buried Giant will indeed join the streaming service’s upcoming originals in development. The news was posted on the streamer’s official Twitter account (See Below).

In post-Arthurian Britain, the wars that once raged between the Saxons and the Britons have finally ceased. Axl and Beatrice, an elderly British couple, set off to visit their son, whom they haven’t seen in years. And, because a strange mist has caused mass amnesia throughout the land, they can scarcely remember anything about him. As they are joined on their journey by a Saxon warrior, his orphan charge, and an illustrious knight, Axl and Beatrice slowly begin to remember the dark and troubled past they all share.

It’s unclear how long we’ll have to wait before an official release date for The Buried Giant as stop-motion animation is time consuming process, but this news gives the impression that Netflix is very much invested in more animated films from del Toro. He’s also reportedly attached to helm a new version of live-action Frankenstein film for them as well.

SOURCE: NETFLIX

Posted on in Film News

Guillermo del Toro Says His Next Stop-Motion Animated Film Is ‘The Buried Giant’

While Pinocchio isn’t the first time director Guillermo del Toro has dabbled in animation, but the film’s critical success, including recent Oscar nominations, is likely going to push him to continue making films within that media for years to come. Thankfully, del Toro is now giving folks an idea what he’s looking at tackling next and it is yet another adaptation.

During a chat with The Telegraph (via The Playlist), del Toro has explained that while it won’t be his next feature film, he’s looking to turn the 2015 Kazuo Ishiguro (author of Never Let Me Go) novel The Buried Giant into an animated film. Not only that, he’s already working on a script with Dennis Kelly (Utopia, Matilda The Musical) and they’ll begin designing the film in two months. Extremely exciting news for folks that want to see del Toro continue making various animation projects.

“The next stop-motion film I’m making is an adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Buried Giant, which I’m currently co-writing with Dennis Kelly, and we start the design process in two months,” del Toro told The Telegraph “I’m shooting a live-action feature first. But in the meantime, we’re developing a look-book, and in about two years if everything goes well, we’ll start production.”

Below is a synopsis of the novel del Toro intends to adapt:

In post-Arthurian Britain, the wars that once raged between the Saxons and the Britons have finally ceased. Axl and Beatrice, an elderly British couple, set off to visit their son, whom they haven’t seen in years. And, because a strange mist has caused mass amnesia throughout the land, they can scarcely remember anything about him. As they are joined on their journey by a Saxon warrior, his orphan charge, and an illustrious knight, Axl and Beatrice slowly begin to remember the dark and troubled past they all share.

One would have to assume that The Buried Giant could end up on Netflix given del Toro’s strong working relationship with them and signs that his next live-action film will land at the streaming service as well.

What’s On Netflix previously reported that the next live-action film from del Toro is expected to be a version of the classic Mary Shelly novel Frankenstein at Netflix with actor Oscar Isaac (Ex Machina) said to be attached to the horror project as Doctor Frankenstein. I previously discovered last year that the filmmaker is expected to be using existing illustrated artwork for the film from Swamp Thing co-creator Bernie Wrightson (the doctor eerily looks like Isaac) and they have seemingly got permission from the late artist’s estate to do so. Guillermo’s desire to make a Frankenstein movie goes back ages to when he was trying to lineup an adaptation at Universal Pictures, long before their Dark Universe plans.

SOURCE: THE TELEGRAPH

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Guillermo del Toro Pitched Horror Pic ‘At The Mountains Of Madness’ To Netflix

Years ago, Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro (The Shape of Water, Nightmare Alley) was prepping to make an expensive R-rated feature adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s short story At The Mountains of Madness at Universal Pictures with Tom Cruise attached in a lead role. However, the studio balked at the film’s $150+ million budget, and the project eventually dissolved.

The Barren, windswept interior of the Antarctic plateau was lifeless–or so the expedition from Miskatonic University thought. Then they found the strange fossils of unheard-of creatures…and the carved stones tens of millions of years old…and, finally, the mind-blasting terror of the City of the Old Ones.

Guillermo del Toro is out promoting his upcoming thriller, Nightmare Alley, and during a chat on Fangoria’s podcast The Kingcast (via The Playlist) revealed he’s pitched the project again to Netflix. The filmmaker added that he’d likely have to scale things back and give At The Mountains of Madness script a rewrite.

“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 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.”

The streaming giant and del Toro have a long-established working relationship with an anthology horror series currently shooting and co-directed a stop-motion animated version of Pinocchio as well. It’ll be interesting to see if Netflix will pony-up the money he’ll need to execute the project despite the talk about scaling things back.

Nightmare Alley will hit theaters on December 17.

NIGHTMARE ALLEY – An ambitious carny (Bradley Cooper) with a talent for manipulating people with a few well-chosen words hooks up with a female psychiatrist (Cate Blanchett) who is even more dangerous than he is.

SOURCE: THE KINGCAST

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EXCLUSIVE: Guillermo del Toro’s Longtime Cinematographer Guillermo Navarro Joins ’12 After Midnight’ Directing Team

Guillermo del Toro (The Shape of Water, Nightmare Alley) is behind a new horror anthology series at Netflix called Guillermo del Toro Presents 12 After Midnight (formerly 10 After Midnight), where he’ll write, produce, and even direct alongside others.

In this new genre-defining anthology series, acclaimed Academy Award-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro will present a collection of personally curated stories, that are both equally sophisticated and horrific. Creator and executive producer del Toro will bring his own visionary style as both a writer and director to certain episodes. In addition, he will handpick a team of the genre’s best writers and exciting new filmmakers to bring his selection of stories to life.

The Oscar-winning director is assembling a team of directors to work on the show and we’ve learned about a new addition to the directing team that already officially includes del Toro and Jennifer Kent (The Babadook, The Nightingale).

The Ronin can exclusively reveal that Guillermo Navarro (Godfather of Harlem, Cocaine Godmother, Narcos, Hannibal, Preacher, Luke Cage) has joined the growing group of handpicked directors working on the horror anthology series.

Navarro is mainly known as a cinematographer with a heap of credits such as Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown, Desperado, From Dusk Till Dawn, The Long Kiss Goodnight, Four Rooms, and Spy Kids. He is the longtime cinematographer of del Toro working together on Cronos, The Devil’s Backbone, Hellboy, Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, and Pacific Rim.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlAECQzTkfY

We previously reported that director David Prior (The Empty Man) is also working on the series.

There is an expectation the more directors will be named at some point and we will update when more names are announced.

The production team includes seasoned production designer Tamara Deverell (Star Trek: Discovery), who had recently worked with del Toro on his latest feature film Nightmare Alley and his vampire series The Strain. Deverell will work alongside art director Brandt Gordon (Nightmare Alley, Crimson Peak, Total Recall, Suicide Squad, Shazam!)

Plot details on the shows are unknown but we should learn more once the streaming service releases some footage. There is an expectation that 12 After Midnight won’t be dropped on Netflix until sometime in 2022.

We know that Guillermo del Toro is busy on other projects including his next studio release Nightmare Alley this December by Searchlight Pictures and is co-directing a stop-motion animated film based on the classic fairy tale of Pinocchio for Netflix. It’ll be interesting to see if del Toro will continue his relationship with Netflix on future films and television projects.