Guillermo del Toro shows video of his never-made H.P. Lovecraft movie At The Mountains of Madness

Guillermo del Toro was the director and award-winning producer of these films. Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy, Crimson PeakAnd the future PinocchioPosted a rare CG clip of his test from H.P. Lovecraft’s The Mountains of Madness.

A long admirer of Lovecraft’s writing, del Toro has tried to get an adaptation of the author’s iconic 1936 novella off the ground since as far back as 2006. The clip appears to date back to around 2012, when the film was conceived as a 3D computer-animated film à la 2007’s Beowulf,James Cameron and Tom Cruise will star as producers. A clip of an arctic explorer is shown fumbling through his backpack, before being chased by a shapeshifting creature. It has talon-like hands and tentacles.

Del Toro revealed that Universal Studios declined to approve the film’s greenlight in 2011 after an email exchange between himself and Daniel Zalewski from New Yorker. This was reportedly due to an argument with the studio regarding his demand for an R rating. Del Toro later elaborated in 2012 that the release of Ridley Scott’s film PrometheusThe movie, which del Toro was filming at the time, hit theatres. Pacific RimIt shares many similarities with The Mountains of MadnessThe film was also cancelled due to this. “I am delighted to see a new RS science fiction film,” del Toro wrote, “but this will probably mark a long pause -if not the demise- of [At The Mountains of Madness].

Now, fast forward to 2022. He won the Academy Award in Best Picture 2017 for his romantic fantasy Water’s ShapeDel Toro may have never had greater creativity and professional success.

The Netflix release of the horror series on Netflix Cabinet of Curiosities — which features several episodes adapted from other notable Lovecraft stories — and the upcoming release of his stop-motion Pinocchio (a film which experienced its own period in “development hell”), it’s possible that posting this clip may be another attempt to resuscitate interest in del Toro’s long-dormant take on The Mountains of Madness.

Oh, and it was a success! Deadpool!