Guillermo Del Toro's 'At The Mountains Of Madness' To Shoot This Summer

Almost every week, Guillermo del Toro's name comes up in regards to something. He's producing this, he's developing that, appearing here, overseeing this. But when is he finally going to get back to directing? After he left The Hobbit, we all assumed del Toro's next film would be At the Mountains of Madness, produced by James Cameron, but there haven't been any updates in a few months. Well, del Toro has changed that with a whole bunch of updates including an estimated start date and more. Read about them after the jump.

Del Toro did an interview with the Los Angeles Times in which he stated he's "actively engaged with the project" and last week had a "summit meeting" with Universal. At that meeting, he showed the studio executives all of his concepts and models for the movie, as well as a finished script. He hopes to start filming in June.

As for Cameron's involvement, it is actually pretty substantial. Not only was he at the aforementioned meeting, he's still giving del Toro notes.

In his subtle style he said to me, 'I have a few notes, but I have one fatal flaw [that I see in the script].' He pointed out one thing that was big. I've been thinking about this for 35 years, and he pointed out something I'd never seen.

At the Mountains of Madness is based on a novella by H.P. Lovecraft in which men on an expedition to Antarctica find a brand new city that houses a never before seen, evil species. No one has officially been cast yet, though del Toro stated there's a part in the film for Ron Perlman, and names such as James McAvoy and even Tom Cruise have been floated around. Del Toro himself hasn't directed a movie in a few years and for good reason. First, he was working on The Hobbit and now he's putting everything he has into this film. Just read what he had to say about it a few months back. (He had a lot more to say too, click here to check it out.)

I'm putting all the chips I have accumulated in 20 years as a director, betting them on a single number.  This is not just a movie and then move on to the next. It's do or die time for me. Cameron does his movies like that every time and I find it surprising the way people judge success in retrospect, like, of course, I would have done that. Avatar was the largest gamble, again, so were Titanic and Terminator 2. I love that type of filmmaker, with those gigantic stainless steel balls, Alec Baldwin-style in Glengarry Glen Ross, fucking clanking together. You can't explain success in retrospect.

Those are big words and very exciting ones for film fans. Where does this project rank on your most anticipated list for the next few years? Does it beat films like The Dark Knight Rises, Zack Snyder's Superman or Avatar 2?