'He's going to grill me every step of the way,' director tells MTV News about horror film Cameron is producing.
By Eric Ditzian
Guillermo del Toro
Photo: MTV News
Guillermo del Toro has been dreaming about "At the Mountains of Madness" for well over 30 years. He read the H.P. Lovecraft story as a child and wanted to shoot a Super 8-assisted adaptation. Eighteen years ago he pitched his friend James Cameron on the idea of making "Mountains" into a feature. He tried to sell studios on the project too.
But nothing happened — until this July, when news broke that del Toro and Cameron were teaming up to adapt the horror story for the screen. Del Toro signed on to direct the 3-D feature, Cameron came aboard as a producer, and now the duo are deep into preproduction with an eye toward shooting next year.
After years of informally evaluating each other's work, they're now formal creative partners. To hear del Toro tell it, the duo will likely both concur and clash as they push forward on the production. Yet whether they're facing off or giving each other a hearty thumbs-up, both strong-willed men are sure of one thing: It's del Toro's movie.
MTV: The idea of collaboration between you and James Cameron is something that gets a lot of people excited — two seriously impressive movie nerds. Have the two of you been geeking out together on movies, space, aliens, 3-D, that sort of stuff?
Guillermo Del Toro: Jim has been one of my closest friends for the last 20 years, but we haven't collaborated. He always gets a thank-you on my movies and we always visit each other's editing room and design room. I've had the blessing of reading the screenplays before he shoots them. He was the first person who saw a first cut of "Cronos," and he gave me a line that is in the movie: "No, not my nose again!" He came up with that over lunch.
MTV: Why was this the project on which to formally collaborate?
Del Toro: "Mountains of Madness" requires everything we have technologically, pushing 3-D in horror in a way that is not just things coming at you, but to use it creatively in function of the genre, without the gimmicks. The first movie I pitched to him in 1992 was "Mountains of Madness." We got together and he'd seen the design we had generated in a couple weeks. He was blown away by the stuff we were doing. We have a small crew of designers. Five guys. And he came in and said, "You mean five guys in two weeks have done all this?" He has been very helpful with having notes on the screenplay, but the best part of working with Jim is he knows me, I know him and we had a very easy time having "the talk." I said, "Push comes to shove, it's my movie." And he said, "It's your movie, absolutely, no problem, I'm here to support you." He's going to be like he's always been: a tough ally. It's not like he's going to let me get away with everything. He's going to grill me every step of the way.
MTV: It seems like there are few people in this business who could go toe to toe with Cameron like that.
Del Toro: He's a guy I completely admire. This is a guy who, in every sense of the word, is formidable. This guy has literally gone to the depths of the ocean. He has pushed the medium. He's not the most successful filmmaker in history. He's the first and second most successful moviemaker in history.
MTV: Are you nervous at all to finally shoot with 3-D cameras?
Del Toro: My first lesson on 3-D came from the hand of Jim Cameron. I'm there with Jim all morning going through the PACE [camera] system of 3-D and I cannot think of a better teacher, so I was absorbing everything, discussing ideas with him. I'm all about depth. I was saying what attracts me about 3-D is not what comes out of the screen [but] the depth that you gain on the screen, how you are sucked into it rather than attacked by things. Jim had an absolutely Zen, Taoist moment and he said one of the best things I've ever heard about 3-D. He said, "What screen? There is no screen." I go, "Whoa, master." That's the key if you want to use 3-D properly. You truly create a new reality. That moment with Jim was my clarity on the mountain.
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