Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein Adaptation is Moving Along, Hulk Not So Much

Guillermo del Toro is one busy guy. Pacific Rim is in post-production. His version of Pinocchio is in pre-production. There’s that Emma Watson-starring Beauty and the Beast film he’s planning to direct. And then you have his Frankenstein and Hulk projects. It’s those last two we have some updates on, courtesy of an exclusive interview with del Toro at Shock Til You Drop.

del Toro’s Frankenstein has been in the works since 2008, before he even started Pacific Rim, and while the lack of progress may have to do with del Toro being one of the busiest directors on planet Earth, it also stems from his own anxieties about getting the film, which he calls “in many ways… the most personal film I’ll ever make,” right:

…I’ve been avoiding it in a cowardly way for many years. [Laughs.] It’s something that I’ve been… not quite so much reticent about as I’ve been mindful and cautious. But borderline avoiding. Because I really think it’s going to be the one movie that I feel is gonna signify [me] more than any other in my life.

But the avoidance might be coming to an end, as Universal Pictures co-chairman Donna Langley has put the spark of life back into the monster film. “So, we’re going to start writing the script,” says the director. “It’s a very long endeavor for me; it’s going to require a couple of years just to write it. But it’s been put back on track by Donna.”

Better late than never, I say. As for the Hulk TV series, it’s kind of in limbo at the moment, though renewed post-Avengers interest in the character might very well kick it along. Apparently the studio is holding out for a specific writer (no word on who that is), but, according to del Toro,

“He’s very, very busy. The official word is we are holding, but I don’t know… Right now officially what I know – and I’m not hiding anything off the record or anything – is that we were told we were waiting for this writer, and we were going to do it with him.”

I’m torn between being excited and wanting to tamp down on any anticipation lest either (or both) of the projects get cancelled à la At the Mountains of Madness.

(io9, via Shock Til You Drop)

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