Director Guillermo del Toro is known for juggling quite a few projects at once, but with Pacific Rim hitting theaters this Friday, the filmmaker has a pretty solid schedule lined up for the next year or so. Del Toro will direct the pilot for the FX series The Strain this fall, after which he will move directly into production on his next feature film, a classical gothic romance ghost story called Crimson Peak. Beyond that, though, we don’t quite know which of del Toro’s many projects he’ll be tackling.
Steve recently sat down with del Toro for a lengthy interview in anticipation of the release of Pacific Rim, and the director provided updates on a couple of his major upcoming projects: Justice League Dark and The Haunted Mansion. Del Toro said that the process of writing JLD has been one of his most enjoyable screenplays, and noted that they’re simply waiting for their writer to be available. The director also provided an update on Haunted Mansion and his upcoming book Cabinet of Curiosities, and teased a bit of Kung Fu Panda 3. Hit the jump to read on.
Del Toro has been developing an adaptation of the comic series Justice League Dark for a little while now, and he told Steve that he’s currently doing revisions on the screenplay:
“Justice League Dark is very active. I’m doing one more revision while we wait for the writer. It’s somebody big, [and] we’re patiently waiting for that writer. I think it’s worth it, I think it’s a guy we all admire. I’m doing my revisions on my sort of Bible, on my story for the film. I can tell you it’s the writing project I’ve enjoyed the most in English. Devil’s Backbone and Pan’s Labyrinth are in Spanish, but of all my writing and screenplays, this was so much fun because it was character. It was a pretty easy plot, but the character interaction, Swamp Thing with Deadman and Demon, it’s so joyful for me to write that. Constantine is such a great character, so dry. I think it could be a great movie. I don’t want to do many changes until the proper writer comes onboard."
The director also provided an updated on his adaptation of the Disney ride Haunted Mansion, which was first announced nearly three years ago. Del Toro confirmed that he will only be producing the film due to his busy schedule:
“Haunted Mansion we chased the writer for a year and a half, we didn’t get the writer, we’re going after another writer. That one I would produce and I co-wrote, but I won’t direct… I’m a huge fan of Haunted Mansion and I would love to do it, but Disney at the same time wants to move really fast on it, and I’m busy for a year and a half or two so they don’t want to wait that long. But if we keep chasing writers that we don’t get, it’s getting to be difficult.”
Watch the portion of Steve’s interview with del Toro regarding Justice League Dark and The Haunted Mansion below, which also includes the director talking about Kung Fu Panda 3 and his upcoming book Cabinet of Curiosities.
If you missed any of our previous stories, click here to see what del Toro had to say about Hellboy 3 and click here for his updates on The Strain and Crimson Peak.
