HOME TRAILERS 2013 SCHEDULE PODCASTS REVIEWS POSTERS INTERVIEWS SHORT FILMS NEWS FEEDS ABOUT APPS

EDITORIALS

Sunday Discussion: What Should Guillermo del Toro Direct Next?

by Alex Billington
April 20, 2008

Sorry for the delay in getting this up today, as I was traveling all day trying to get home from my trip to both Los Angeles for Speed Racer and New York for the Comic Con out there. Speaking of the NYCC, I must say, I love Guillermo del Toro more than just about any other director. Not only is he a brilliant filmmaker, but he's the funniest guy to hear speak live. He's got so many great ideas and has one hell of a mouth. Not only did he speak about Hellboy II extensively this weekend, but del Toro also introduced yet another new project called Saturn and the End of Days. While we wait a few more months until Hellboy II hits theaters in July, I thought it would be a good time to ask - out of all of del Toro's projects coming up, what do you want to see him direct next?

Here's a quick overview of what Guillermo apparently has on his plate, rumored or otherwise. First up, The Hobbit, which will be officially announced by the end of this week. He's officially attached to H.P. Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness, Champions, and 3993. We also can't forget Hellboy III, which he will do if the second one performs well this summer. And also rumored are Frankenstein, a B.P.R.D. spin-off, an adaptation of Dr. Strange, and even a movie based off of BioShock. Lastly, we can now add Saturn and the End of Days on here as well, a movie about a kid named Saturn who is watching the end of the world while walking back and forth from the supermarket. Damn! Guillermo del Toro has more projects in development than even Martin Scorsese!

Now that you know what's at stake, what do you want to see Guillermo del Toro do next? My own choice would honestly be The Hobbit. I'm a huge Lord of the Rings fan (just look at my all-time top 10 favorites), and I've been waiting to see The Hobbit more than anything. Guillermo already fulfilled my dream of making Hellboy II, so I don't need to "beg" him to do that next. I'm guessing after I see Hellboy II, though, I'll probably want Hellboy III more than anything. Lastly, Saturn and the End of Days sounds great, but Guillermo said he would do it if he had nothing on the slate, because he can finance it entirely on his own. And BioShock sounds like a perfect fit for him, too, but that wouldn't be for a long, long time. This really is a tough choice - but I'll have to stick with my gut and still say The Hobbit.

Guillermo's mainstream acceptance seemed to blossom with Pan's Labyrinth. Before that, the first Hellboy wasn't too well-liked and most hated Blade II, thus he wasn't that well known. His earlier films, The Devil's Backbone and Chronos, are also great but hardly ever seen. Now it seems like Guillermo is set to blow up huge in mainstream Hollywood and possibly even gain name recognition on the level of Steven Spielberg or James Cameron. Let's hear it - what do you want to see Guillermo del Toro direct?

Filed under Discuss, Editorial, Opinions

From around the web:

m4st4

At the mountains of madness. Finally.
Taylor

I really would love to see him do Bioshock but thats not going to happen so I would want him to do the Hobbit or At the Mountains of Madness.
bltzie

Alex, I feel you man, Del Toro is great! so talented! and my favorite movie of all time is also LOTR ( I can't decide wich part) and I've seen them so many times now! BUT, there's something in me , that doesn't want Del Toro to direct the hobbit, I don't have a particular reason, in fact I'm pretty sure Del Toro can do a great job. BUT! I just want Peter in the Director's chair. I imagine... in fact I'm pretty sure you have seen the extentended LOTR dvds, in the special features you can notice Peter shows so much passion for these movies, for every single detail, He's into the story. So, my question is, do you think Del Toro can grow on that same Tolkien world (I read somewhere that Del Toro hasn't read any of Tolkien's books), do you think he will deliver these movies with the same passion Pete had. Do you think he can follow Peter's Middle Earth, without getting it too dark and spice it up with a touch of Pan's Laberinth? I mean it's obvious Del Toro won't just duplicate LOTR into the Hobbit, but didn't you think the LOTR movies were perfect just the way they were? Anyways, if Guillermo Del Toro actually directs the Hobbit movies, that's like 1000 times better than Sam Raimi.
Squiggly_P

I'm sure PJ and Fran Walsh will be at the very least asked to write the script, so as to keep it in the same sort of storytelling style, but I'd love to see Del Toro's take on the Tolkien world. I personally think it's fitting that another director take over that film, as that book and the LOTR books - while written by the same man - feel very different from one another. The story in The Hobbit is really almost as large as the LOTR - tho maybe not so complex - and It wouldn't surprise me if they split it into two films, or shot one 4 or 5 hour film and split it for release or something... But after that I'd like to see him do something Sci-Fi. Something really sci-fi, like Bladerunner or Alien. It would be so awesome to see his sort of visual flair and story-book sort of style go in that direction.
http://www.firstshowing.net Alex Billington

bltzie, I hate to say it, but you have to realize Jackson is NOT going to direct The Hobbit. There's no chance, nothing, it's not even a pipe dream - it's already gone and faded so stop trying to hold out for it. If anything, everyone needs to start looking on the brightside - like, what if Guillermo does direct it, how is he going to do it, what will his take be like? I really am excited for The Hobbit and slightly nervous about del Toro's rendition, but I still feel confident in everyone's involvement that it will undoubtedly hold true to the Lord of the Ring universe that Jackson originally created.
http://thesomewhatmanlynerd.wordpress.com CajoleJuice

"But after that I'd like to see him do something Sci-Fi. Something really sci-fi, like Bladerunner or Alien. It would be so awesome to see his sort of visual flair and story-book sort of style go in that direction." BIOSHOCK!
Fox

At the Mountains of Madness, since other movies of his are already very much Lovecraftian.
Nixx

I dunno , i like Hellboy and blade 2 but they wern't the greatest movies i've everseen, i hope this guy can at least pull off the hobbit. It seems like Hellboy 2 has alot of LOTR setpieces alrdy so i'm wonderin if he did that to get him in place better to direct the hobbit.
http://www.thestopbutton.com Andrew Wickliffe

Hellboy III seems unlikely. (I'd love to see studio tracking on II). After the Hobbit, which will make a fortune and give Del Toro at least two vanity projects--hopefully At the Mountains of Madness, since he's been talking about it for, what, nine years?
CSpuppydog

I really want him to make At The Mountains of Madness it was one of my favorite book/short story of all time. He is my favorite director so I am sure he would do a fantastic job.
http://www.williammize.com William Mize

Oh, "At The Mountains of Madness". Definitely. Slam dunk, considering how, as others have noted, that Del Toro has already pretty much infiltrated the Lovecraft universe already. That and it's a kick ass campaign for the Call of C'thulhu roleplaying game - Bill Creator of the Denton Ward and Monty Crocetti mystery series
http://movieguyreviews4u.blogspot.com Ryan

Mountain of Madness
Nicc

I'd love to see Del Toro take on The Nightside series by Simon R. Green... As for current projects, MOM, and The Hobbit are extremely exciting to think about. And what does anyone else say to letting Del Toro helm a real honest to goodness comic adaptation of Spawn? He's a master at the dark and murky, and Spawn is all dark and murky...
CSpuppydog

Nicc I agree 100% del Toro doing Spawn could be the greatest thing that has ever happened to me!
Buzzou

Mountains of madness. end of story.
DaVeO

Anything he wants. But I can't wait to see his Hobbit. I agree with an above poster that The Hobbit had a very different feel then LOTR, and Guillermo will show that through his direction. But what I need to hear is that WETA is handling the SFX. And that some of the original cast (Gandalf, Bilbo, Elrond) will return. Also, don't forget the second movie that bridges The Hobbit with LOTR will be done (presumebly) by Guillermo as well. That, I'm sure will have more original scenes, but based on material found in the Return of the King's appendencies.
Mel

Alice In Wonderland. He is the only director who has the real imagine to bring such a fantastical world to life and keep it in the same bizarre, slightly creepy vein that the book is in. After what he did with Pan's Labyrinth, I'm completely sold on the idea.
Patrick

Mountains of madness needs to be done next. End of story. Its the only movie I see on that list that actually has a physical void in the movie going world that has a NEED to be done status. HellboyIII would be nice to see sometime, but after the thorough and obvious pandering to the movie going public regarding segues to the original (just like Pirates of the Caribbean and its sequel, yes we know pirates drink rum a lot, thanks for the segue rehashing the first movie in the sequel *rolleyes*) it seems to me that Hellboy III can wait until Del Toro has such clout that the studios will give him enough freedom to stop the pandering. The hobbit movies (I heard there will be two parts...) will give Del Toro the clout needed so that he wont be forced to include a romantic interest in the Mountains of Madness like Jackson had done with LOTR. Both stories are devoid of romantic interests (MoM is simply barren of that) and yet rumours persist that the studios want the silliness put in and ruin a perfectly good Lovecraft story. You don't hear people talk about how a movie got ruined because it was faithful to the books and lacked a romantic interest. But you DO hear about people complaining about a movie being ruined by not being faithful to the books and including extemporaneous elements to it. The world needs to see that Lovecraft stories can be competently made and be profitable. Del Toro is the man to break that ground and release Lovecraft's stories from their B-rated shackles hollywood has afflicted them with for the last three decades.
Toni

Ok guys, since the hobbit has been confirmed, i think we all agree on gillermo woll not have time in the next ten years to do a film like such, but this man is the most talented film director ever(at least fantasy wise) alfonso cuaron isnt far behind, We saw what cuaron did to the third harry potter, wich became my favorite potter film because it made the films begin to grow up, he pushed for dark thematics and gave us more out of the magical world than warner wanted, so with that said, if Del toro helmed harry potter, say the seventh one, how would that turn out? aNother one i have in my mind is Dantes inferno, now that would make gillermo a hero in my eyes forever, spawn and devil may cry go on those similar lines aswell, i mean imagine how mutch fun he would have with DANTES HELL and its creatures. anyway also i think he would, since the visuals he creates are impressive that Vampire hunter D would be up his alley,if you dont know what that is read the first book. But thats a project that needs to be made by someone like him, its virtually unfilmable, either him or peter would be the ones for it. now about the universal reboost i think he would do wonderfully in any of the but specially in a dracula film because frankestein has been made well in the past but not amazing, while vampire lore has been killed by certain teenagers,anyway he would make sure that vampires are scary again. another ive wished was made into a film is hermann hesse work, either sidartha or ANd if the war continues or Betrachtungen in german. there are a million different ones id also like to see done by someone with the visionary magic gillermo brings to film, and im hoping in my lifetime they are made