Freed from the burden of trying to convince everyone that The Hobbit will actually start shooting before the end of the century, Guillermo del Toro has been throwing himself back into producing the approximately 7,000 projects he has on the go, and gearing up to finally make his HP Lovecraft adaptation **At The Mountains of Madness. And, naturally, he’s turning his attention to casting, with Tom Cruise and James McAvoy the names leaking out on to the Interwebs as possible stars.
According to Collider’s sources, there’s been some discussion between the writer/director and Universal, the studio providing the financial clout for Mountains, as to which of the actors might be best to star. Del Toro, who had been considering working up a new take on the Van Helsing story for Cruise to star in, has brought him up as his choice.
Universal’s executives, meanwhile, are looking more towards James McAvoy. Though both men are busy right now (Cruise has the new Mission: Impossible movie chugging into production in the next couple of months and McAvoy’s working on X-Men: First Class), Mountains isn’t planned to start shooting until next May, so there’s time for their schedules to clear. Assuming, of course, that either one of them show actual interest in the movie. And we'll wait to hear it from del Toro himself before we move this from the rumour pile to the confirmed list.
But what’s not to like? It’s del Toro crafting a passion project about a scientific expedition venturing to Antarctica to explore previously hidden ruins and discovering something truly terrible and powerful lurking within. Plus, it features James Cameron as executive producer. You’d think actors would be beating a path to the director’s door. We’d guess GDT won’t have much trouble recruiting and cast for this one, and we’ll stay on top of all the info.