DRIFT SPACE

Deadline reports that GDT’s next project will be CRIMSON PEAK – a haunted house project that he originally co-wrote with long-time collaborator Matthew Robbins.

The film would be produced by Legendary Pictures (continuing a strong relationship between Guillermo and that studio).

CRIMSON PEAK was originally bought by Universal, which will co-finance.

Lucinda Coxon (The Crimson Petal and the White) will assist in a re-write, and the goal is for production to begin in 2014.  This would allow Guillermo to work on the F/X pilot for The Strain after PACRIM’s summer release.

Del Toro tells Deadline that CRIMSON PEAK is “a very set-oriented, classical but at the same time modern take on the ghost story. It will allow me to play with the conventions of the genre I know and love, and at the same time subvert the old rules.”

The film originally gained traction after PAN’S LABYRINTH.  Here is a an interesting quote from the Deadline article:

The project originally sold quietly as a spec script to Universal, where del Toro had his deal. “It was the first one I wrote after Pan’s Labyrinth, and I sold it to Donna Langley at Universal,” he said. “She loved it, I was going to direct it, and then Hellboy II happened, and then I was off to New Zealand for The Hobbit. Donna suggested I move aside and produce it. It went out to directors, but I didn’t quite like anyone for it. Finally I went through the experience of Pacific Rim with Warner Bros and Legendary, and it was the best experience I have ever had making a movie, period. I had a really good working relationship with Thomas Tull and Jon Jashni, and they asked what I wanted to do next. I sent them At The Mountains Of Madness, I sent them [The Count Of] Monte Cristo, another project I’ve tried to do for 20 years. I also sent Crimson Peak, but didn’t expect a reaction because it’s not a typical Legendary movie. Much to my surprise, Thomas Tull called 9:30 at night on the day I sent it and said, ‘I don’t know how it ends, but I am on page 45 and I love it.’ Next day, Jon Jashni called and said we think it’s the best project for us, just the right size.” Universal allowed him to move the project, with the caveat the studio can put up money for a stake in the film.

Hard-core GDT and Lovecraft fans will note the mention of AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS, a project that was very close to being realized at Universal, but stalled.  Legendary, apparently, is showing interest in reviving the project:

“They [Legendary] love it, but we just finished PACIFIC RIM,” [GDT said]. “They want to let that film happen and then my hope is, down the line we can do it.”

High-Def Digest has posted details on the new BLADE II Blu-ray, scheduled to release on July 10th!

The Blu-ray will feature 1080p video, a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack, and along with all of the Special Edition DVD supplements the Blu-ray will also have the following exclusives: all-new commentary with Guillermo Del Toro, Director’s Notebook, and Blade II: Blood Brothers featurette with writer David Goyer.

Suggested list price for the Blu-ray will be $19.98.

Ok, fans. Put it on your shipping list for July!

Attention GDT fans! This year’s DelToroFilms Forum Party (“Hellebration”, for you long-timers) will be held on August 11th in Rosemont, Illinois (near Chicago). This is the site of the 2012 Wizard World Comic Convention.

We have something a little different planned this year. Along with the standard meetup at the comic convention early in the day, I have secured a location in nearbye Hinsdale for a movie screening and cocktail party.

Here is all the information that you need to know:

Tickets for the Wizard World Comic Convention are available here:
http://www.wizardworldcomiccon.com/chicago.html

All details for convention are here, including travel and hotel info:

http://www.wizardworldcomiccon.com/show-info-ch.html

Here is the nearest hotel to the evening cocktail party and movie screening in Hinsdale:

http://westmont.clubhouseinn.com/

Please RSVP and let us know you are coming – send an email to “parker at deltorofilms dot com”

See you there!

*Wipes dust off jar, opens lid and takes a whiff of contents*

Woah! Little past the expiry date eh? I think we need a fresh one yes? What do you think?

So this is the official Things In Jars relaunch. Since my last post, DelToroFilms.com itself has also gotten a bit of a facelift and now new Jars’ posts will now appear right on the front page
(Thanks Parker!)

The Blogspot site will be maintained as sort of an archive site, aside from DelToroFilms itself.

I’ve gone on quite a few adventures over the last little while (with more coming up) and have lots of great GDT and SFX related tidbits to share.

So, in honour of the relaunch of Things In Jars how about a story about … things in jars.

At the end of January last year I was in London, England on what I dubbed my “BPRD Euro Tour” (for reasons that will become clearer in the future) and at one point I found myself at the Natural History Museum. After giggling like a small child through the corridors filled with dinosaurs, Mary Anning’s marine fossils (The tongue twister “She Sells Seashells” is about Mary Anning), gawking at the Blue Whale skeleton, and ooh-ing over the extensive bird collections there was only one wing (no pun intended) of the building left unvisited. I stepped inside – and burst out laughing (this is when the other tourists start giving you a wide birth folks, when you start laughing all by yourself. The downside of traveling alone!)

The whole wing was nothing but things in jars!

Like this:

And this:

Now, I can’t say that prior to becoming a GDT fan, I had much of an affinity for “things in jars”. The handful of preserved specimens I’d encountered in the past used to strike me as more than a little bit… icky. Skin colours fade, bodies gets squished and compacted, any sort of damage to the specimen gets magnified. They aren’t necessarily what I would deem “pretty”.

Those weren’t the only things in jars I saw on that trip. These were in a museum in Lyon, France, about a week earlier…

A little closer to home (both geographically and chronologically) I took a trip to the ROM (Royal Ontario Museum) in Toronto this past December to test out the new camera I got for Christmas and I found, you guessed it, more things in jars!

So I think I’ve finally come around to the appeal of things in jars. They are definitely fascinating and as an artist I find they provide a fertile ground for inspiration – all those changes due to the effects of the preservation fluid serve to make strange features even more alien, even more weird, even a little bit – monstrous?

And yes – even a little beautiful…