James Cameron joins At the Mountains of Madness!

[FunGuyfromYuggoth]

Still shudders at what a Nicholas Cage "Superman" movie would have been like...

[christian]

I am glad. i loved Titanic and I believe cameron, with all his faults, has a strong love of the sea and the Ice. i can see why he would be foolish enough to bypass the crass stupidity of Hollywood moguls ( a story without a happy ending, etc...) and produce GDT's vision. This is insanely good news for those who came back

[Badger]

Still shudders at what a Nicholas Cage "Superman" movie would have been like...

It would've been like that.

[Zarozinia]

I'm going to sound like a dreadful snob, but James Cameron's involvement does make me anxious.

I am unconvinced that Hollywood and Lovecraft mix. Cameron's films always seem so... ostentatious. Explosions and testosterone. I avoided Avatar for some time, but my girlfriend really wanted to see it, so I watched it on DVD with her and it really confirmed all my prejudices: lots of spectacle, no terribly original ideas and the underlying politics of a 'liberal white man's burden' with the enlightened white man saving the noble savage just made me grimace.

Big budgets always make me uneasy too. If you spend that much money, you're aiming at the mass market to turn a profit, and that means you're going to try and cater to the (for want of a less patronising phrase) lowest common denominator.

I have more confidence in Del Toro, but while I really like Pan's Labyrinth, I was rather disappointed with the Hellboy films. I think the comics are wonderful, and I know that Del Toro is a big fan too, and I know that film and comics are different mediums with different audiences... but I didn't like the changes that he made.

And of course Del Toro will make changes to AtMoM. I'm just a bit torn about that really. If he makes too many changes I won't like it. If he doesn't make changes then I will be pleased with the faithfulness, but it will make it a bit pointless! I thought the Watchmen film was a very faithful adaptation of the comic, but I was left with the feeling that it was so faithful that it was a bit unncessary: people should just read the comic.

I guess what I'm really saying is that whatever Del Toro and Cameron do I will probably grumble. So I wish them luck! I'm sure that this will introduce a lot of people to HPL's work (and maybe by extension CoC) and that can only be a good thing.

[christian]

If they only give us a few great illustrations of the Ice and the City, I'll be glad. And if on top of that they get a good musical score, I'll be superglad. If they make a great movie, they'll have to call the ambulance.

[FunGuyfromYuggoth]

Thanks Badger. I remember that photo now. /Rolls for SAN

This article gives us a very interesting insight on James Cameron's role as evangelizer for the new film.

Zarozinia raises concerns that all of us have felt. It's a POV that is to be respected. None of us have any control as to what comes out of a film maker's mind and efforts. We just have to understand that film making is a huge ensemble undertaking that is more often miss than hit--but I am willing to trust the horror sensibilities of GDT and the technical mastery/clout of James Cameron to do it right for everybody. They both know the stakes. Screwing up an HPL movie would be a huge egg on their face. They have every reason to do it right--whatever that turns out to be.

[Zarozinia]

This article gives us a very interesting insight on James Cameron's role as evangelizer for the new film.

Thanks FunGuy, that is interesting, and it is somewhat encouraging to see more evidence that Del Toro will very much be in the driving seat. Still, this bit fuels my pessimism:

"Like the novella on which it’s based, the film will take place in the Antarctic, where humans encounter a race called the Ancient Ones. "The thing about Lovecraft is that he left a lot to the imagination," Cameron says. "He never told you what they looked like. He managed to create a sense of creeping horror without specifics.""

Considering that Cameron claims to be a big Lovecraft fan and to have read everything HPL wrote (twice no less!)(http://shocktillyoudrop.com/news/topnews.php?id=16204), you would think that he would remember the incredibly detailed, anatomically precise, description of the Elder Things.

[FunGuyfromYuggoth]

Just like they said about my evil twin brother, he's noisy but as long as we keep him in the attic most of the time, we're fine (and he occasionally helps out around the house).

[Badger]

Just like they said about my evil twin brother, he's noisy but as long as we keep him in the attic most of the time, we're fine (and he occasionally helps out around the house).

Are you comparing James Cameron to Sloth?!??

I...i cannot find fault with that.

-=b

[Unfilmable]

Guillermo del Toro wants Tom Cruise to star in At the Mountains of Madness! So says collider.com...

See: http://www.collider.com/2010/09/02/j...ermo-del-toro/

[Cthulhudude]

Well Tom already has the couch-jumping-insanity thing down, not to mention belonging to a wacky cult (sorry to any Scientologist out there, please don't sue me) so this might be a better fit than I would have 1st thought.

[Max_Writer]

I'm sorry, but this continues to sound worse and worse to me as main-stream Hollywood gets their hands on it. I'm guessing it will take place present day to give them an excuse to add several women to the cast for sex/love scenes that are uneccessary to the story and completely tacked on (as usual).

[Tigger_MK4]

For all Toms flaws (and I'm far from his biggest fan) he can at least act. Unlike Nicholas Cage.
My preference would be somneone capable of a subtle performance such as Kevin Spacey or (for da ladies) George Clooney.

Lets not panic yet. Hollywood does make a good adaptation once in a blue moon... LA Confidential , Master and Commander, Interview with a Vampire , Shawshank Redemption come to mind; Also I thought Golden Compass was pretty well done. However they are outnumbered by the rubbish (Dune..<shudder>. And I'm a Lynch fan).

I'm trying not to get too excited at the news ; otherwise no matter how good it turns out to be it'll never meet our expectation.

[Cthulhudude]

For all Toms flaws (and I'm far from his biggest fan) he can at least act.

Oh I agree, I was just playing. The fact that he’s a stark raving mad cultist was just too good to pass up. But honestly I do own quite a few of his movies on disc, however I must say that he is far from my 1st choice for lead actor of this film.

[FunGuyfromYuggoth]

Tom Cruise would actually be fine by me--since after the last few flops he finally has to go back to that acting thing that he was actually decent at. Once they get to a point where they have to dig deep (see Travolta in "Pulp Fiction") and really sell their acting as opposed to "Look-at-me-I'm-a-movie-star!" For the film, Tom Cruise's presence would also virtually guarantee an international audience, which to me is also a bold move since it guarantees we get to see Tom go primate-**** crazy without the help of a couch.

Plus, as hard to wrangle as he famously is, I am pretty sure that James Cameron is more than capable of shouting him down and working with GDT.

I say this because I deeply regret the times I was wrong with casting. With a good script and excellent directing, Michael Keaton did not become Mr. Batmom in the 1980s under Tim Burton, John Travolta did not ruin "Pulp Fiction" in the 1990s under Tarantino, and Michael Caine had an amazing comeback from years of Hollywood schlock as Alfred under Chris Nolan.