Guillermo Del Toro Wants To Revamp This Legendary Project For Netflix

Guillermo del Toro is a truly prolific screenwriter, director, and producer. He's the genius behind films like "Pan's Labyrinth," 2004's "Hellboy," 2008's "Hellboy II: The Golden Army," and "The Shape of Water." Recently, del Toro signed a deal with Netflix (via /Film) to produce several projects, including "Pinocchio" and "Cabinet of Curiosities." His highly-anticipated, Bradley Cooper-led film, "Nightmare Alley," is also set to hit theaters in December.

The filmmaker recently appeared on an episode of the Stephen King-centric podcast, "The Kingcast," and discussed a wide variety of topics, including his previously mentioned projects for Netflix. Based on the interview, it sounds like his partnership with the streaming service may even give him the chance to resurrect some of his passion projects that have yet to be realized. 

In fact, if del Toro continues to get his way, "Cabinet of Curiosities" may just be the beginning of his and Netflix's shared descent down a Lovecraftian rabbit hole.

15 years ago, Guillermo del Toro co-wrote a screenplay for an adaptation of H. P. Lovecraft's beloved novella, "At the Mountains of Madness." The original story follows archeological explorers as they try to uncover the various mysteries of Antarctica, and, unsurprisingly, it doesn't go well. The project was slated to star Tom Cruise but it got scrapped after comparisons to "Prometheus" began to rear their head like a malevolent shoggoth.

The filmmaker was so excited about the project that, to this day, he still wears a signet ring for the fictional Miskatonic University that is featured in the original novella (via MovieWeb). Now, based on his "Kingcast" appearance, it sounds like there may be a glimmer of hope for the adaptation. 

In the podcast episode, del Toro reveals that "At the Mountains of Madness" was one of the first projects he pitched to Netflix. The filmmaker also happily reports that he still gets regular phone calls from producer Don Murphy asking, "Are we doing this or what?" to which he keeps replying, "I have to take the time to rewrite it." 

Indeed, del Toro has some serious plans for his "At the Mountains of Madness" rewrite. He reveals in the interview that he wants to take the project "into a weirder direction" than his original draft did. He also wants to shy away from casting major actors in the film, and instead hopes to "go for mostly unknowns and make the journey the star."

But regardless of who stars in it, Netflix and Murphy seem more than ready to get weird with del Toro, and in all likelihood, so are most moviegoers.