Guillermo Del Toro Pitched Netflix On A "Far More Esoteric, Weirder, Smaller" Version Of 'At The Mountains Of Madness'

Of all the projects that Guillermo del Toro has teased over the years, coming close to making but not quite reaching the finish line, his adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’sAt the Mountains of Madness” is something still talked about today. Originally developed more than a decade ago, the film was set up to be a big blockbuster for a major studio. Eventually, like so many other projects, ‘Madness’ stalled and eventually never got past the development and scripting stage. But there may just be hope yet for a new version of the film from del Toro. That is, if Netflix is interested.

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Speaking on the Kingcast podcast (via /Film), Guillermo del Toro explained what he would do with “At the Mountains of Madness” if he had the chance to make it today. And he might just get that chance to make it, as he revealed he already pitched the film to Netflix in hopes the studio would give him the green light, even if it came with a smaller budget than the reported $150 million he was going to need for his first version. 

“The thing with ‘Mountains’ is the screenplay I co-wrote fifteen years ago is not the screenplay I would do now, so I need to do a rewrite,” del Toro explained. “Not only to scale it down somehow, but because back then I was trying to bridge the scale of it with elements that would make it go through the studio machinery.”

But if Netflix were the destination for ‘Mountains of Madness,’ then the filmmaker would have a lot more creative freedom. And we all know del Toro takes full advantage of creative freedom.

“I can go to a far more esoteric, weirder, smaller version of it,” he said about a possible Netflix version of the film. “You know, where I can go back to some of the scenes that were left out. Some of the big set pieces I designed, for example, I have no appetite for. Like, I’ve already done this or that giant set piece. I feel like going into a weirder direction.”

One of those scenes that he is excited about possibly making includes the ending, which he described:

“I know the ending we have is one the most intriguing, weird, unsettling endings, for me. There’s about four horror set pieces that I love in the original script. So, you know, it would be my hope. I certainly get a phone call every six months from Don Murphy going ‘Are we doing this or what? Are you doing this next or what?’ and I say ‘I have to take the time to rewrite it.'”

As for the logistical aspects of the film, considering we are more than a decade past when the film was being seriously developed, del Toro understands his original pick to star in the film, Tom Cruise, has aged out of the role. So, if “At the Mountains of Madness” were to get the green light from Netflix, it would have a different lead actor. 

Of course, none of this will amount to anything if ‘Madness’ doesn’t get the go-ahead from Netflix. It could just be another what-could-have-been situation here del Toro leaves behind a highly-anticipated project for something else. We’ve seen this with, most famously, with his proposal for a “Hellboy 3,” which was passed on in favor of the rebooted film from 2019. 

To see a del Toro film that actually got made and is being released, you can watch “Nightmare Alley” in theaters on December 17.