Tom Cruise Confirmed for 'At The Mountains of Madness'

[Puuka]

One thing that put me off from the start was the prospect of this being in 3D, I hate 3D movies. Nothing breaks the immersion of a movie more than looking at your wrist watch or watching a movie in 3D. At least for me, I am aware of watching "a movie" the whole time just because of the silly effects and glasses.....

Agreed. I hate 3-D movies that have shots or scenes in it for no other reason than to say "Oooooh, look, it's 3D" It's not a recent thing either. I remember Friday the 13th 3D when it came out, it had a from the ground shot of a yo-yo going up and down, coming right at you. Pointless waste of film.

[Anatoli]

I find those effects really cheesy, but I also find the "atmospheric 3D" like in the new Tron movie not really adding anything at all to the movie experience. Giving the image a bit of depth in exchange of constantly being reminded that you watch a movie is a bad trade. But the tickets are more expensive, and pirating gets harder so that alone makes the studios exploit this resurrected trend before it dies out once again.

Maybe I'll change my mind when the technology has advanced far enough to refine the 3D experience and make it possible to watch without those glasses. I have vague ideas of what Guillermo Del Toro would want to do with the technology, making the vast empty spaces feel even more expansive - and probably using the 3D for some "losing your sanity" effect when the explorers encounter the bad stuff. But I don't think any such gimmick is necessary to tell a chilling Lovecraft story.

There is a half-crappy Lovecraft movie loosely based on A Shadow over Innsmouth called “Dagon”. The main character is silly / very similar to Ash from the Evil Dead movies and the story is really weak and gets worse as the movie progresses – but the atmosphere at times is “perfect Lovecraft”, especially the scenes at the hotel and the main character being chased by the inbred locals’ shines.

Would be cool if Del Toro started out with a “smaller” and cheaper adaptation such as the Dunwich Horror or A Shadow over Innsmouth – even Whisperer in the Dark would have been awesome, before going for that epic tale of Mountains. Building an audience and increasing the budget over each movie. Maybe then the studious would give him the money he needed - reading the article money seemed to be the biggest issue.

[zobo1942]

He's not giving up:

http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2011/06/27/guillermo-del-toro-on-mountains-of-madness-im-not-giving-up/

[Doomsdave]

I would love to see HPL writ large on the silver screen, sans Cruise.  His performance in War of the Worlds was the final straw for me.  I can't watch him any more, in anything.  I think Gary Oldman would be an ideal casting choice for a main character.  The R-rating conundrum may continue to doom this movie, but the real problem is that it will have to have a hppy ending for H-Wood to greenlight it.  The reason other "comic-pulp" movies do so well is that they all end happily and give theater patrons heroes to replace those that have been edited out of our histories and myths. 

[fanfavorite]

Regardless of anything, if it is ever released I will see it. I just know it could of (in assured hindsight) been better- especially given the prestigious make up of the production sans Cruise.

Yes, Anatoli- "Dagon" captures it all purrfectly. Just as a heads up there was a 2007 release based also on "... Innsmouth" entitled simply "Cthulhu." I have read mixed reviews ranging from "shitty plot but visually stunning" to something like "great plot and visually stunning." Whether its a hit or a miss its suppose to be as far as cinematography goes,  beautiful. I have not seen it, can't seem to find it anywhere for rental or stream, and have not really been too tempted to buy it- so I can't really recommend it one way or another, but let me know if you ever watch it though- might make a good blog post?

[TheBlueShoggoth]

Tom Cruise aint a good actor IMO, I'd love to see if it gets the visuals right - it could do, but I want a better lead-actor than that. It's the sort of film that has to be done -right-. It both excites and worries me in equal measure.

[fanfavorite]

With production value like this it could really do the story justice- but all in all I find that the Lovecraft mythos is better served by its (literal) cult following, and not the mainstream. Meh.

[zobo1942]

Which is, again, an excellent reason to check out 'The Whisperer in Darkness' by the HPLHS.

Site revamp: http://www.cthulhulives.org/Whisperer/index.html

[fanfavorite]

Seeing it this fall at the HPL Film Festival is L.A. 

super excited...

[Anatoli]

Yeah Gary Oldman would have been perfect for the main lead in Mountains. As things look now I'm not holding my breath for the movie becoming reality anytime soon. The only positive thing in this delay misery is that the 3D crapfest will probably be grossly out of fashion by then and G.D.T. will drop that idea. The long delay would possibly open up for a new actor for the lead.