LIFE AFTER 'HELLBOY'

[Scott W. Davis]

Guillermo del Toro, it seems like things have finally happened for him. CRONOS should have caused a such a sensation that any success it had seemed modest in comparison to what we expected. MIMIC I still say is an excellent film that suffers from an unfortunate third act (What does it take to kill Josh Brolin in a horror film anyway?!?). Then came BLADE 2, a film which could really only hope to be as good as the first one... and it blew everyone away. A rare sequel that expanded on the original mythology and created not only a kick-ass horror actioner, but an original one as well.



Now, del Toro is helming HELLBOY. It's a project that seems to have been covered by every other site except ours. Looking at the pics, it looks like one helluva fun ride. In a serendipidous move, all the pieces seem to have fallen in the right place for this project. Ron Pearlman is set to play Hellboy. Selma Blair, whom I love/lust after, is his pryokenetic love interest, which should make a nice change from the unfortunate second-hand roles in third-rate quirky comedies she's gotten. Rick Baker is doing the makeup effects, so we know everything is going to look top-drawer on that front. And del Toro says he would be up for a trilogy if it came to that.



del Toro has also dangled many interesting horror properties in front of us since becoming the hottest thing since Drew Barrymore roasted George C. Scott. Now, del Toro has kept fans up to date on what's happening with the project on his Hellsite.



MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS - being re-written until early spring, right now it is in the hands of my writing partner Matthew Robbins (SUGARLAND EXPRESS, DRAGONSLAYER, MIMIC,etc) so, there, we won't hear from the studio until -probably- spring of 2004. Cross your tentacles.



WIND IN THE WILLOWS Written. As of now, I am no longer attached to the project. I turned in my draft -co-written with MR- and the approach I planned proved to be very expensive and - probably weird- to the studio. It happens... I cherish a scene in which mr. Toad was paraded though London a bit like THE ELEPHANT MAN. Sigh- no wonder they found it weird...



CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON I have never been in development with this property. I just pitched a possible idea to do a Jules Verne sort of adaptation of the premise. I am now part of tha many guys that have "pitched" a CFTBL movie( Carpenter, Landis, etc) in a way I am relieved, Seeing the original with my daughter made me realize how perfect it is - Oh, Julie!



MONTECRISTO Written. Still looking for a way of making it happen.



MEPHISTO'S BRIDGE Written. It's been 10 years since I wrote this one... I need to rewrite it someday. It is a little dated. Many movies have done the Faustian Doppelganger bit since the scipt was written. Most notably that anarchic, misantropic masterpiece FIGHT CLUB.



DOMU Still in Lawyer Limbo after 5 years of negotiations.



LIST OF 7 Written by Mark Frost. Also in it's 10th anniversary... It has become a tradition to talk to Mark Frost every year and plan new ways of have this baby financed. When we wrote it, Steampunk had not yet taken hold. Many movies have done stuff like it now -with varying dgrees of success (WWWest, LXG, etc) but LIST OF 7 remains as powerful today as it was when we adapted the novel. K.W. Jeeter, Tim Powers, Mark Frost, brilliant mind in search for a movie, somewhere in the future.



COFFIN Outlined. There is a storyline written by Tim McCanlies (IRON GIANT, SECONDHAND LIONS) but we have not "nailed" it -no pun intended, sorry. Thankfully, Lightstorm is being very patient and I hope this one takes shape next year. The comic is incredibly interesting but I want to find the exact tone for it.



CRIMSON PEAK I am in talks about that one. I would love to be able to make a Gothic Romance much in the Bronte/ DuMarier mold but really creepy. I will start outlining the story and work on the outline quite soon.



All sounds good. In a perfect world, I would like to see every one of these, sans CREATURE made. But, we don't live in a perfect world so who knows what will happen. Still, AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS in 35mm. Go ahead, say that out loud and see if you don't smile.



As always, special thanks to Bloody Disgusting for the scoop.



Oh, and HELLBOY starring Pearlman and the lovely Ms. Blair opens in the U.S. on April 4th, with a UK release sure to follow.



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Comment on HELLBOY and the work of Guillermo del Toro in our FORUMS!

[JohnShaft]

Originally posted by Scott W. Davis@Nov 18 2003, 08:03 AM
All sounds good. In a perfect world, I would like to see every one of these, sans CREATURE made. But, we don't live in a perfect world so who knows what will happen. Still, AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS in 35mm. Go ahead, say that out loud and see if you don't smile.

I'd LOVE to see this movie get made.
AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS was the first Lovecraft story I read, and (I guess like many) it blew me away. I think Lovecraft is still woefully underappreciated. Outside of die hard horror fans he's almost completely unknown. Everyone knows Poe, but H.P. is another matter. Despite all this his mark is everywhere in the horror genre.

In truth I now find 'MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS one of his least readable novella. It takes a long time to get going and is very dry in places (not that it's not great when you get into the meat of the story). I still think it would make a great movie. The "Horror in the Antartic" theme is very reminiscent of THE THING. There is speculation that 'MOUNTAINS inspired John W. Campbell in writing the short story WHO GOES THERE, on which THE THING was based.

I remember I enjoyed the hell out of Mark Frost's LIST OF SEVEN when I first read it. A great twist on Sherlock/Doyle mythology. So that's another one I'd really look forward to.

I've actually still to see del Toro's BLADE 2. I'm just about to order it for Christmas, along with DARK CITY and THEY LIVE.