G is for Gaiman, Neil
That del Toro is friends with Neil Gaiman, the “Sandman” and “American Gods” creator and one of literature’s major masters of the macabre, makes perfect sense, and their friendship has nearly, but not quite, lead to a few projects. Aside from the “Doctor Strange” pitch (see above), del Toro was also attached to executive produce “Death And Me,” the adaptation of Gaiman’s comic “Death: The High Cost Of Living” that would have served as the writer’s directorial debut. The project neared greenlight in the late ’00s, with Gaiman even shadowing del Toro on the set of “Hellboy II” to pick up tips, but New Line ultimately pulled the plug. Gaiman was also writing a new film version of the Chinese folk tale “Journey To The West” which was courting del Toro to direct, but there’s been no news on that in five years.
H is for “The Hobbit,” “The Haunted Mansion,” “Hellboy 3,” “Heavy Metal” and “Hater”
Despite his many developing projects, del Toro went five years between “Hellboy II” and “Pacific Rim,” in large part because he spent nearly two years working on the ‘Hobbit‘ movies that were ultimately made by Peter Jackson. With Jackson initially reluctant to return to Middle Earth, del Toro was hired to write and direct what was then planned as a two-part adaptation, relocating his family to New Zealand in 2008. But a series of delays on the studio end (“every six months we thought we were beginning, and every six months we got pushed back,” he said after) turned what was planned to be a three-year commitment to a six-year one, and del Toro quit the project in May 2010 in what he called “the toughest situation of my life,” though he retains screenplay credit on all three movies.
Del Toro had completed “Hellboy II” shortly before “The Hobbit,” with the film quite clearly setting up a dark third chapter, with the title character, as del Toro would later say, coming “to terms with the fact that his inevitable destiny is to become the beast of the Apocalypse.” He’s discussed a third film in the series with Ron Perlman, but with neither of the first two being giant smashes, there hasn’t been a lot of studio interest. “No one is knocking,” he told the Happy Sad Confused podcast last year.
One rather unlikely project thought dormant got a new lease of life last year. In 2010, after departing “The Hobbit,” del Toro announced that he was doing a new “Haunted Mansion” movie for Disney, a scary take on the beloved ride that would be worlds apart from the 2003 Eddie Murphy film. Thought to feature the pivotal presence of the ride’s famous Hatbox Ghost, the film seemed quiet for years, but it was revealed that Ryan Gosling was in talks to star in the film last year, so it still seems to be brewing away.
Del Toro, with David Fincher, Zack Snyder and others, was also linked at one point to a new animated “Heavy Metal” anthology, while he was also going to produce an adaptation of David Moody’s novel “Hater,” set in a world where ordinary people have been turned into suddenly violent Haters, for “Orphanage” director J.A. Bayona, though that seems dead at this point.
I is for “The Incredible Hulk” and “I Am Legend.”
The complicated rights situation around “The Incredible Hulk” might be preventing Mark Ruffalo’s green giant from getting his own solo MCU film. But at one point, pre-“Avengers,” the character nearly headed to TV, with del Toro teaming with “Battlestar Galactica” writer David Eick for a new take, which would have used a mix of prosthetics, puppetry and CGI to bring the hero to life. The plan was to launch the series in the fall of 2012 after “The Avengers,” with del Toro helming the pilot. But once Mark Ruffalo’s take was well-received by executives, the project was put on the back burner. Del Toro eventually made his TV debut with his own “The Strain,” a series reminiscent of “I Am Legend,” a project that, in its Will Smith-starring incarnation, del Toro flirted with directing before “Hellboy II.”
J is for “Justice League Dark”
Though he’s been offered all kinds of projects, so far del Toro’s only major superhero project has been the “Hellboy” movies, but he very recently came close to making something pretty big. Initially codenamed “Heaven Sent,” then “Dark Justice,” “Justice League Dark was intended to introduce and team up more supernatural DC comic characters, with John Constantine, Swamp Thing, Deadman (who del Toro was linked to a solo movie for — see above), Zatanna and Etrigan The Demon in the line-up. Initially set to be separate from the wider DC universe, the project was eventually brought into the continuity, but del Toro exited the project last year. Doug Liman was brought on to replace him, but given the current chaotic state of the DC movies, who knows if it’ll come to pass?
K is for “The Killing On Carnival Row”
Even before “Pan’s Labyrinth” really vaulted him to the A-list, del Toro was attached to one of Hollywood’s hottest unmade spec scripts: In 2005, he was set to direct “The Killing On Carnival Row,” a dark fantasy noir from writer Travis Beacham about a detective in a steampunk city hunting a vampire killer who’s targeting fairies. Del Toro fell off (Neil Jordan and Tarsem Singh continued to develop the project) and it looked to be for the birds, but the director stayed friends with Beacham, who wrote “Pacific Rim,” and the project was recently revived as an Amazon pilot, now simply called “Carnival Row.” It’ll hit the streaming service next year (though it’s unclear if del Toro will still helm the pilot, with post-production on “The Shape Of Water” potentially clashing).
L is for “The Left Hand Of Darkness” and “The List Of Seven”
Perhaps the earliest project on this list, “The Left Hand Of Darkness” (also known as “Monte Cristo”) was a version of Alexandre Dumas’ “The Count Of Monte Cristo” set in a steampunk Western world, which Roman Coppola hired del Toro to write in the early ’90s, just after he made his name with “Cronos.” The film was apparently involved with the “soulless, mechanical aspects of revenge,” and though it’s more than 20 years since it began, it’s still on the boil: Del Toro says that he nearly made the film instead of “Crimson Peak.” We’d love to see the director go Western, so we hope it happens one day. Del Toro was also developing for years an adaptation of the novel “The List Of Seven,” from “Twin Peaks” writer Mark Frost, about Arthur Conan Doyle becoming involved in supernatural murder mysteries, but he said last year that the Robert Downey Jr. “Sherlock Holmes” film might have killed it.
M is for “Monster,” “Mephisto’s Bridge,” “Midnight Delivery” and “Meat Market: A Love Story”
One of two potential projects that del Toro has developed at HBO, “Monster” was an adaptation of Naoki Urasawa’s manga about a doctor searching for an evil psychopath whose life he saved as a child. “Sherlock” scribe Steven Thompson co-wrote with del Toro, but within two years, the network passed, and attempts to place the project elsewhere don’t seem to have had any success.
Also in more horrific territory, del Toro, when first being courted by Hollywood after “Cronos,” was developing “Mephisto’s Bridge,” based on Christopher Fowler’s novel “Spanky,” about a man who makes a deal with a demon. It didn’t come to pass, but del Toro credits some of the design work he did with aiding with the creatures of “Pan’s Labyrinth” and “Hellboy.” At the same time, del Toro was also prepping an English-language movie called “Meat Market: A Love Story,” about a butcher who falls in love with his boss’s wife. Much more recently, del Toro was also going to produce and co-write (with “Luther” creator Neil Cross) Universal’s “Midnight Delivery,” which would have starred Kevin Costner as a man who agrees to be a drug mule in order to save his daughter’s life, with “Game Of Thrones” helmer Brian Kirk directing. The film was close to production, but ultimately seemed to fail to get the green light.