Sorry, this entry is only available in Español.
Author: Álex Hernández
Guillermo del Toro abandoned “The Hobbit” and we now know why: next year he’ll be shooting “At the mountains of madness”. James Cameron himself will be assisting on the 3D. Big fan of Lovecraft, del Toro wasn’t able to find funds for his dream project because, according to his own words that I quote from memory, “the insignificance of the human being in the universe is not a theme that would sell much popcorn”.
But maybe it will.
An early, undated version of the script surfaced online, and even though sites like ScriptShadow were forced to remove not only the link but even the (rather positive) review, the PDF should still be around. I could finally read it last weekend.
Co-written with Matthew Robbins (Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, Mimic), the text contains an adventure movie which is at the same time classical and modern: classical in its love for the mistery of the unknown, and modern in the unbreakable pace that keeps the reader (future spectator) glued to the seat. The script sweats love not only for Lovecraft but also for Poe and all the horror and sci-fi literature of a century ago.
On the negative side, the script lacks any memorable characters, which is maybe its bigger flaw, as ScriptShadow pointed out. And certain attempts to humanize them (like Dyers briefly glimpsed wife or Gedney’s worries about his brother Pip) are clichéd and not relevant to the plot. Probably in an effort to cut down on the number of pages (i.e. cut down costs, i.e. convince investors), some informations and themes are forced onto the mouths of the characters, thus verbalizing the topics for the dumbest memeber in the audience. The reading reminded me of the viewing of Hellboy 2: rich imagination, poor storytelling.
We can take for granted that the movie will be a visual show. The script’s descriptions are brief (lesson taken!) but del Toro and Cameron will distill much wealth from the original story. We can only hope that the flaws in this version of the script have been solved in later revisions. Defective or not, I just can’t wait.
As a farewell, a soundtrack suggestion, both for del Toro and for readers of the script: the Antarctic beauty of the music of Max Richter
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Some months ago I announced that I was looking for a collaborator for my latest project: an illustrated novel. I thought nobody would reply, or maybe some cartoonist would and I would have to make do with him. Was I wrong!
I was counting replies by the dozens. The selection process has been (pardon my French) long and hard, but eventually it would have to reach its end. Thanks to everyone for taking part and for sending those fantastic sketches.
I hope I can introduce you my new partner very soon. For now we’ll be entering what moviemakers call pre-production: a time to bring two heads together till they work as one and draw the map of one of the largest, cutest, most ambitious projects I have ever undertaken. Wish us good luck!
Our friend Abel Arana is filling up the summer at his blog by re-running Mrs. Carrington, isn’t that cool? Enjoy August with some still-fresh, fully-subtitled, black-and-white comedy!
Sorry, this entry is only available in Español.
[…] I had the opportunity to share some drinks with several students of journalism in their third year. I wasn’t all that surprised to learn that they had no university newspaper or even personal blogs. In fact, they said, they didn’t usually write.“Why are you studying journalism, then?”, I asked.
“Most people in my class only want to be on TV” one of the students said. And she added, “Actually, several classmates already had boob jobs.”
Jose A. Pérez on Mi mesa cojea
Museum of Words announces an impressive prize for the second edition of their Flash Fiction Prize: € 7,000 for a maximum of 100 words. The deadline is October 31st, so get on with it, artists!