It’s hard to think of modern horror without getting a mental picture of filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, given that he’s become the face of the genre thanks to a career dedicated to all the creepy and scary things that cinema can offer. Well, despite dipping his toes into the world of period noir with “Nightmare Alley” and fairytales with his stop-motion animation version of “Pinocchio,” his next film might be grounded a little more deeply within the confines of another creature feature.
The filmmaker briefly spoke with the Variety Awards Circuit podcast (listen below), opening up about having 22 completed but unproduced scripts and teasing what could be next on the feature film front. When the topic of his “next” project was brought up, del Toro was a little more secretive about it and didn’t even want to reveal the title. But he did mention it is a “monster movie,” for whatever that is worth given that could mean a lot of various things given how vague that minor descriptor is.
“Well, I’m working on a monster movie; I cannot say the title because it may change, and I could end up making something else. But right now, I’m writing and designing. And we have for the last couple of years. Hopefully, it’ll be next, but anything can happen,” del Toro said when asked about his next film.
Then again, “The Shape of Water” was a monster movie but very much played with romance and Cold War spies as well. Vagueness might be a good way to keep things close to the chest for the time being, as del Toro obviously isn’t ready to share those details just yet.
Netflix has yet to officially sign off on a second season of his anthology horror series “Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities” as del Toro added, “We don’t know if there is a second season of ‘Cabinet.’” A second season would likely ask for his attention and may mean he’ll have to hit pause on this mysterious monster movie he’s working on. Although, he’s already put together a wishlist of filmmakers he’d like to work with on that potential second season.
Del Toro also talked about how his unmade version of “At The Mountains of Madness” would need to be rewritten if they go the stop-motion route because animation and live-action scripts are two very different things. Given this monster movie project is being teased as his next potential film, it doesn’t sound like “Madness” is ready to go anytime soon, if at all, but let’s see where it all shakes out.