Filmmaker Says He Doesn't Want 'Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde,' Or 'Frankenstein' To Be In 3D, Is On The Fence About 'Slaughterhouse Five'
Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro is perhaps today's biggest genre-centric multi-tasker. If his projects file were a kitchen it would be jam-packed with several sous-chefs working on dishes in different states of readiness; many still marinating, trying out different sauce combinations, with some tested in various iterations and ready to to go on the grill.
A new trendy ingredient has hit the kitchen of all filmmakers and we all know it as 3D. While at the time, del Toro didn't seem 100 percent convinced 3D was right for "The Hobbit" — which he since abandoned, letting Peter Jackson take charge once more — he's apparently changed his tune now that he's open to speak freely. But he apparently isn't opposed to the technique entirely as his next project, "At The Mountains of Madness," which is produced by James Cameron and may have roles for Tom Cruise or James McAvoy and Ron Perlman is being lensed in 3D.
But what about several of those other projects pickling in the back cupboards?
Del Toro has four projects set up Universal — and part of the reason he couldn't stay any longer in New Zealand — a new version of "Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde," a remake of Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse-Five," "Drood," and a new "Frankenstein."
And in a new Twitter Q&A presented over at Digital Spy, del Toro said that 3D, like any film technique, has to be used when it's appropriate — citing "Avatar," "How To Train Your Dragon," and "Toy Story 3" as great examples — but said it shouldn't be used willy nilly for everything. "I don't want to see Jane Austen's Pride And Prejudice and see Mr Darcy in 3D. I don't want to see Wuthering Heights in 3D," he said.
The director also fully came clean about his 3D thoughts for "The Hobbit," which he seemed to waffle on during the period he was the director. "I myself was not interested in shooting 'The Hobbit' in 3D," he admitted, but added, "I do believe that big spectacle movies like 'Avatar' or 'At The Mountains Of Madness' or 'The Haunted Mansion' should be in 3D,"
As for his aforementioned Uni projects? " 'Frankenstein,' I will fight for it not to be in 3D, 'Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde' I wouldn't like it to be 3D. 'Slaughterhouse-Five,' I think Kurt Vonnegut would have smiled either way." Watch the clip below. One has to wonder, with Jackson reportedly shooting his 'Hobbit' in 3D and with del Toro against it, could that have caused further creative issues that forced the Mexican filmmaker to bail? Probably not, he's said at several turns that he had to start thinking about and working on several Uni projects and then again, "Mountains Of Madness" (once set up at DreamWorks) is now under the Universal banner as well. It's hard to say, but surely his comments will leave some to speculate.