Del Toro and Cameron Team Up For Lovecraft’s ‘Madness’

Yes, it’s official – -my geek pants have exploded.
Even more disturbing than that, they have exploded with shapeless congeries of protoplasmic bubbles, faintly self-luminous, and with myriads of temporary eyes forming and un-forming as pustules of greenish light.

What does all this mean? Well, let me tell you… provided I can stop hyperventilating.

Guillermo Del Toro is teaming up with James Cameron to produce an adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s “At the Mountains of Madness”. While this may leave many of you with big question mark hats on, for the horror geek (and particularly a Lovecraft geek like me), this is pure unadulterated geek wood. We’re talking mahogany here. This project has been discussed and speculated upon for at least a few years now. A script has been floating around since at least 2004 (which met with rave reviews) but when you’re talking an author that’s as difficult to adapt as Lovecraft, you need more than just a good script. You need money and clout.

Enter James Cameron.

Word is – in an exclusive to Deadline New York – that Cameron is coming on as a producer and that he will put his expertise to use in filming “Madness” in 3-D. Now aside from these particulars, details are pretty scarce. There has been no word on budget (though it’s predicted this will be a tentpole feature – over $100 million) or rating (which ideally would be an R), but supposedly this goes into pre-production in a few weeks and looks to start shooting next summer. We’re also still waiting for official word from either Del Toro or Universal, but with the shoggoth out of the bag (so to speak), whith any luck, an announcement will come soon.

Now if you will excuse me, I have to go find some new geek pants.