Del Toro moves on from his passion project and confirms next directing gig.
Legendary Pictures announced yesterday, via Deadline, that Guillermo del Toro is officially set to direct ‘Pacific Rim.’ The movie will begin principal photography in September with a release date set for summer 2013.
Produced by Thomas Tull (‘Sucker Punch,’ ‘The Dark Knight’) and Jon Jashni (‘Trick ‘r Treat,’ ‘The Town’), the epic 3D monster invasion drama is the most recent in a string of stories about humanity coming together to fight off creatures who come to take over Earth.
Talking to Deadline, the director said, “We started developing PAC RIM a while ago with the mad passion and enthusiasm of a project unwatched and unchecked by politics or comparisons, we designed and shepherded the movie we want to make. We start shooting in September and we hit the ground running because we are so in sync. My partnership with Legendary represents, both in scale and creative demands, a huge step forward for me.”
“People got it confused with the ‘Godzilla’ movie a few months ago but we cleared that up. I can say the scope and imagination that have been outlined in it are absolutely appealing to me. I cannot say more, it’s not the time.”
Del Toro’s passion project, an R-rated (18+ for us Irish people) adaptation of H. P. Lovecraft’s novel ‘At the Mountains of Madness’ fell apart at Universal due to the fact that the studio had a problem with the movie’s rating. The movie was going to be R-rated, not for gore or violence but for the intensity, something Del Toro experienced with the ‘Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark’ remake he just produced which scored an R rating despite having no profanity, no sex and no gore – just for the intensity alone.
But that doesn’t mean he has given up on trying to get the movie made. Del Toro is hoping the studio will “allow us to seek a home for this. It will remain a timely premise for years to come, so I don’t have to do it next month… I have great partners in Jim Cameron and Lightstorm, and Don Murphy and Susan Montford, great partners in this adventure who are not giving up and not letting me give up.”