After Hellboy II, it looked like the film was going to be the next directing vehicle for Del Toro. But the studio, Universal, pulled the plug on Madness over budget problems. Del Toro immediately moved on to Pacific Rim – a giant monster movie for Legendary – leaving a glimmer of hope that maybe, someday, At the Mountains of Madness would happen.
But with Prometheus now on the way, you can pretty much forget about that Lovecraft adaptation. Del Toro took to the message boards of Del Toro Films to explain why.
He began with:
“I have been interviewed about this lately and wanted to post my two cents about this:
Prometheus started filming a while ago – right at the time we were in preproduction on PACIFIC RIM. The title itself gave me pause – knowing that ALIEN was heavily influenced by Lovecraft and his novella.
This time, decades later with the budget and place Ridley Scott occupied, I assumed the greek metaphor alluded at the creation aspects of the HPL book. I believe I am right and if so, as a fan, I am delighted to see a new RS science fiction film, but this will probably mark a long pause – if not the demise – of ATMOM.
The sad part is – I have been pursuing ATMOM for over a decade now – and, well, after Hellboy II two projects I dearly loved were not brought to fruition for me.
The good part is: One project did… And I am loving it and grateful for the blessings I have received.”
Pressed further about the connections between Madness and Prometheus, he wrote:
“Same premise. Scenes that would be almost identical.”
Followed with:
“Both movies seem to share identical set pieces and the exact same BIG REVELATION (twist) at the end. I won’t spoil it.”
Clearly, Del Toro is privy to information about Ridley Scott’s film that the common public does not know, so we’ll have to take his word for it on the similarities.
Super bummer, eh?
