Yesterday at the Saturn Awards, we got the chance to talk with Guillermo del Toro backstage for more than 20 minutes. Among the many topics discussed, del Toro was inevitably asked what his next project would be. Del Toro said he has three finished scripts that he is deciding between for his next film. Del Toro said “If the one that I think will happen happens, it’s something that started fifteen years ago. I wanted to do it fifteen years ago. We started. We couldn’t do it. It went completely in a beautiful roundabout way and came back to me.” When asked if we would recognize the project when we hear about it, del Toro replied “Oh yes, yes, yes, trust me. And those are projects that are really great associations, world creation projects. Big projects.” After much research, I’m willing to speculate that of his three possible projects, the one he spoke so passionately about is his adaptation of the Alexandre Dumas novel The Count of Monte Cristo! Keep reading for more information.

In a 2009 interview with MTV, del Toro spoke about his gothic-western take on the novel. Just as he said last night that he started work on the project fifteen years ago, del Toro said in the interview “I co-wrote it with [Kitt Carson] and Matthew Robbins around 1993 to 1998”. In our interview last night del Toro assured us that the project was one that people would recognize and called it a “world creation” project. An adaptation of Dumas’ novel would certainly fit the bill given its international name recognition and that it is the product of a French (“world creation”) author.

The last reason why I think del Toro’s adaption of Monte Cristo, which has been given the working title The Left Hand of Darkness could be his next project is that it is a film that would gather immense studio interest. After the success of Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes and with Paul Anderson’s upcoming Three Musketeers film, Monte Cristo seemed like the next classic novel in line to be adapted. Studios seem very interested in making these updates on classic books and given all the other factors, I’d be comfortable to say that del Toro’s fifteen year project is the tale of Edmond Dantes' escape from false imprisonment and quest for revenge.

Make sure to comment what you think about the possibility of del Toro helming Monte Cristo next. What else do you think he could be considering to direct?