Guillermo del Toro is starting work on his stop-motion “Pinocchio” at Netflix after years of trying to get the project made, but the title is hardly the only del Toro script that has been put on the back burner over the years. The “Hellboy” and “Pan’s Labyrinth” director took to social media on November 26 to reveal a master list of all the completed film scripts he has written or co-written that have yet to be made into feature movies.
The list of del Toro’s unmade film scripts include: “The Witches,” “Justice League Dark,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “At the Mountains of Madness,” “Fantastic Voyage,” “The Count of Monte Cristo,” “Mephisto’s Bridge,” “Pacific Rim 2,” “Secret Project (Untitled),” “Superstitious,” “Nightmare Alley,” “Haunted Mansion,” “The Buried Giant,” “The Coffin,” “Drood,” “List of 7” (co-written with Mark Frost), and “Wind in the Willows.”
Del Toro made it clear in a follow-up tweet these scripts are not “maybes” but all completed works that took months to finish and range from 90 pages to 130 pages. “Each script takes about a year, so more than a decade of work lost (in the case of ‘Mountains’ much more, since we scouted and designed etc),” del Toro wrote. “Each of them took months or years of my life.”
In some cases we’ll never get to see a script materialized into an actual feature (del Toro said his “Pacific Rim 2” script was “very different” from what ended up being “Pacific Rim Uprising”), and in other cases the projects have seemingly evolved with Del Toro moving into a different capacity (del Toro is currently producing “The Witches,” but it’s being directed and written by Robert Zemeckis). “At the Mountains of Madness” was a film del Toro spent years trying to make, and he has admitted the intended R rating is what got it killed.
Del Toro even threw in an 18th completed script, one for a comic book television series about The Hulk. Check out del Toro’s commentary below.
1/2 SCREENPLAYS I have developed, fully written or co-written that have gone unproduced (so far):
THE WITCHES, JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS, FANTASTIC VOYAGE, THE COUNT OF MONTECRISTO, MEPHISTO’S BRIDGE, PACIFIC RIM 2 (very different),— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) November 26, 2018
2/2 SECRET PROJECT (UNTITLED), SUPERSTITIOUS, NIGHTMARE ALLEY, HAUNTED MANSION, THE HULK pilot, THE BURIED GIANT, THE COFFIN, DROOD, LIST OF 7 (Mark Frost) and a few others…
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) November 26, 2018
The thing is- each script takes about a year, so- more than a decade of work lost (in the case of mountains, much more, since we scoiuted and designed etc)
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) November 26, 2018
Oh, and WIND IN THE WILLOWS (which I loved)
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) November 26, 2018
To be clear these screenplays are WRITTEN, done. Each of them took months or years of my life. Meetings, synopsis, beat sheets and were all written, features- 90-130 pages each.
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) November 26, 2018
These are not “maybes” or “wish list” items. They are done.
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) November 26, 2018
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