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Saturday, July 05, 2014

Guillermo Del Toro Talks "Pacific Rim 2" & "Mountains of Madness"

Now that Pacific Rim 2 is officially set for an April 7th 2017 release, filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro has been talking about the sequel while out on the stump for "The Strain" TV series.


Speaking with the Wall Street Journal, Del Toro revealed a couple of new details about the sequel which will apparently be able to stand on its own and will be quite different in feel from the first film:

"We are three years away, so to spoil anything would be fantastically silly of me. What I can tell you: [screenwriter Zak Penn ("The Incredible Hulk," "X-Men: The Last Stand")] and I really went in, we started with [co-writer of the original "Pacific Rim and "Travis Beacham] about a year and a half ago, kicking ideas back and forth. And, admittedly, I said to Zak, let's keep kicking ideas till we find one that really, really turns the first movie on its ear, so to speak. It was hard to create a world that did not come from a comic book, that had its own mythology, so we had to sacrifice many aspects to be able to cram everything in the first movie. Namely, for example 'the Drift' which was an interesting concept. [Then there was] this portal that ripped a hole into the fabric of our universe, what were the tools they were using? And we came up with a really, really interesting idea. I don't want to spoil it, but I think at the end of the second movie, people will find out that the two movies stand on their own. They're very different from each other, although hopefully bringing the same joyful giant spectacle. But the tenor of the two movies will be quite different."

Del Toro also said that he begins design work on the film in six weeks with around nine months of that ahead of him. There will be a few new jaegers and a lot of new kaiju. There's also new faces joining the cast with the plan to be as multicultural as possible. Men and women of all races each of them getting equal amounts of story.

Del Toro also confirms that the latest draft of the script includes characters Raleigh Becket (Charlie Hunnam) and Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi).

The upcoming animated series will be set prior to the first film and will tell the stories that happened to pilots working in the Shatterdome. Some of the new characters will appear in the upcoming  sequel, and he hopes that at least one season of the show to have been on the air before the sequel opens.


Later Del Toro talked to the publication about his long-awaited film adaptation of H. P. Lovecraft's novella "At the Mountains of Madness".

The story follows explorers in Antarctica who uncover the remains of highly evolved creatures neither plant or animal. Investigating a gigantic mountain range, they come upon an abandoned ancient city. Their explorations underground causes something to stir from its slumber.

The film has started and stopped again over the years at various studios. Things seemed to be gathering steam three years ago when the project was at Universal Pictures. James Cameron was slated to produce. Both Tom Cruise and James McAvoy were said to be in contention for the lead, but the film's $150 million budget and R rating meant the studio wasn't keen on green lighting it and ultimately pulled the plug.

Del Toro then went on to make "Pacific Rim" and the upcoming "Crimson Peak" with Legendary Pictures. Now, with Universal and Legendary paired up, Mountains chatter has stated up again and del Toro is hopeful he has the chance to make it for both of them. He's also realised that the need for an R rating isn't as necessary with PG-13 guidlines being more relaxed these days.

"That's exactly what I discussed with them. I said to them, that's the movie that I would really love to do one day, and it's still expensive, it's still… I think that now, with the way I've seen PG-13 become more and more flexible, I think I could do it PG-13 now, so I'm going to explore it with [Legendary], to be as horrifying as I can, but to not be quite as graphic. There's basically one or two scenes in the book that people don't remember that are pretty graphic. Namely, for example, the human autopsy that the aliens do, which is a very shocking moment. But I think I can find ways of doing it. We'll see. It's certainly a possibility in the future. Legendary was very close to doing it at one point, so I know they love the screenplay. I think there's a really strong possibility we can do it at Legendary because now they are at Universal, and Universal, you may remember, almost greenlit the movie. The fact that we now have two studios together that love the material, and if they support each other, they are risking a lot less. It would be great to do it, but I've understood that you don't plan your career, it just happens... Hopefully it'll happen. It's certainly one of the movies I would love to do."

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