He didn’t get to realize his vision of The Hobbit, but according to Variety, Guillermo del Toro will soon bring another literary classic to life. The fantasy/horror director will helm his version of Beauty and the Beast for Warner Brothers, with Harry Potter’s Emma Watson signed on to star. We originally reported in July 2011 that del Toro would only be producing the project, as it conflicted with his big budget monster movie Pacific Rim, which is currently in production.
Other details include WB’s decision to bring on screenwriter Andrew Davies, who will work off a treatment by del Toro. Though he’s most known for his work on Bridget Jones Diary and its sequel, his recent venture writing the loosely adapted, overblown action adventure The Three Musketeers could make Davies a perfect match for del Toro, who’s no stranger to the weird and over-the-top.
No word yet on how Beauty and the Beast will affect del Toro’s continuing struggle to make At the Mountains of Madness, his dream project that was killed off by Universal back in March 2011. As of last June, he seemed optimistic that the studio would still consider backing the film – an epic horror tale based on a novella by H.P. Lovecraft – but until he’s done with Pacific Rim, any new developments are doubtful. In the meantime, check out some updates provided by del Toro himself on his forums for that sci-fi epic starring Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba and Charlie Day, hitting theaters May 2013.
On robot designs:
I never “bend” a property to fit me. I just fall in love with the stories and give it my everything, so- don’t worry about GOLDEN ARMY Mechas. These are proper robots but they obey our own sensibilities in design. I am not making them gear or steampunky at all but I also don’t want them to be just a “riff” on preexisting designs from Anime or games.
On script changes due to the major earthquake:
As far as Japan, Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi), one of our main characters is Japanese and her flashbacks are tied to a MAJOR set piece set in Tokyo. We are involving – and always have involved- the entire PACIFIC RIM. Japan, China, Australia, Coastal Russia etc, etc No major rewrites took place after the Earthquake. I changed the nature and location of Mako’s flashback but it was still in Japan.
Are you interested in seeing where del Toro will go with Beauty and the Beast? Are you hoping he still fights to get At the Mountains of Madness made?