Guillermo Del Toro Has Shared His Long, Long List Of Unmade Movies
Oscar-magnet Guillermo Del Toro isn't the kind of filmmaker who you'd assume would have much trouble getting projects made, but the Pan's Labyrinth and The Shape of Water director has been rummaging around in his filing cabinets and shared the films he's still got kicking around at home, waiting to be made.
1/2 SCREENPLAYS I have developed, fully written or co-written that have gone unproduced (so far):
THE WITCHES, JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS, FANTASTIC VOYAGE, THE COUNT OF MONTECRISTO, MEPHISTO'S BRIDGE, PACIFIC RIM 2 (very different),- Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) November 26, 2018
2/2 SECRET PROJECT (UNTITLED), SUPERSTITIOUS, NIGHTMARE ALLEY, HAUNTED MANSION, THE HULK pilot, THE BURIED GIANT, THE COFFIN, DROOD, LIST OF 7 (Mark Frost) and a few others...
- Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) November 26, 2018
As tends to be the case with tantalising hints of unmade projects, some of these sound absolutely brilliant: given how boring most of the DC comic films have been, a Del Toro Justice League Dark would be particularly interesting, as would the HP Lovecraft adaptation At The Mountains of Madness.
It's a particular shame that SECRET PROJECT (UNTITLED) apparently never got off the ground either, though perhaps understandable given the wilfully vague name. Then again, some might be best left unmade.
Oh, and WIND IN THE WILLOWS (which I loved)
- Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) November 26, 2018
Apparently Disney were keen on making this retelling of the story of Ratty, Mole and pals a bit funkier than expected, with a Toad who did rad skateboard tricks. GDT backed away, perhaps sensibly.
"The thing is - each script takes about a year, so more than a decade of work lost (in the case of mountains, much more, since we scoiuted [sic] and designed etc)," Del Toro explained on Twitter. "To be clear these screenplays are WRITTEN, done. Each of them took months or years of my life. Meetings, synopsis, beat sheets and were all written, features- 90-130 pages each. These are not "maybes" or "wish list" items. They are done."
Plus, Del Toro also had some sage advice from the day he was meant to present his vision for a film version of the late-60s occult detective TV series The Champions: "An entire coffee cup fell into my keyboard the day of the presentation. It fried. I had to do it all over. Always backup!"
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