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Exclusive: del Toro on Why Wind in the Willows Went Away
Plus, the visionary director updates us on a Mimic Director's Cut.
by Joe Utichi | July 12, 2008
Discuss Article
Following revelations earlier in our exclusive Dinner and the Movies conversation with Hellboy II director Guillermo del Toro that he'd passed up chances to direct movies like Se7en, The Chronicles of Riddick and Sleepy Hollow, the visionary director shared with RT another list of projects that have never made it to the big screen that he's had to abandon over the years.

Among the projects del Toro has, at some point, spent time preparing are adaptations of Christopher Fowler's Spanky, Mark Frost's List of Seven, H.P. Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness and Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo which, says del Toro he planned to turn into a "gothic Western."

But one of the projects del Toro spent time on in 2003 was a Disney adaptation of Wind in the Willows that was to mix live action with CG animation, and the director explained why he had to leave the helm. "It was a beautiful book, and then I went to meet with the executives and they said, 'Could you give Toad a skateboard and make him say, 'radical dude' things,' and that's when I said, 'It's been a pleasure...'"

One former project he is keen to return to is Mimic and del Toro also discussed his plans for a revival. "It's not going to be the Director's Cut to end all Director's Cuts," he told RT, "it's just going to make a minute difference to a movie that is not a lost classic by any stretch of the imagination, but I do believe the screenplay is really good."

Click on over to our Dinner and the Movies conversation with del Toro for more on these topics in the recently-released parts 7, 8 and 9, and to catch up on the earlier parts of our ongoing hour-long discussion.

Related Items
Movie: Seven
Sleepy Hollow
Chronicles of Riddick
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Celeb: Guillermo Del Toro
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Comments (1-7 of 7 posts) | Reply
Floor Man
Floor Man writes:
on Jul 12 2008 07:48 PM

Good for del Toro. I'm glad that there are a few directors with their heads on straight in the business...unfortunately, it sounded like the execs needed to be fired.

(Reply to this)
vaodsi
vaodsi writes:
on Jul 12 2008 09:59 PM

hahahahaha! OUCH!!! this is why disney is lame!!!!!! gosh!!!! maybe now that John lassetter is in charge (at least of the animation department) we migth get something real... prolly not though.

(Reply to this)
knowingtoast85
knowingtoast85 writes:
on Jul 13 2008 02:16 AM

hold on, let'S stop.

toAd could have Ridden a skateboard and said radiCal dude things?

how could you sAy no to that?

i have loSt respecT for del toro. he dIreCted pan's labyrinth instead. ugh.


(Reply to this)
riseup124
riseup124 writes:
on Jul 13 2008 09:05 AM

Del Toro's the man. We need more directors like him. Directors who stay true to a project.

(Reply to this)
LOTRfanatic
LOTRfanatic writes:
on Jul 13 2008 10:03 AM

In reply to this comment (#1865239)
I see what you did there.

(Reply to this)
tekwar2001
tekwar2001 writes:
on Jul 13 2008 12:12 PM

Nice to see a material purist is out there and able to say no to the money grubbing whores who have no respect for the content which made them who they are.

You want a toad that rides a skateboard and says gnarly stuff go buy a box of Honey Smacks...


(Reply to this)
Poor_Frisco
Poor_Frisco writes:
on Jul 13 2008 02:17 PM

what happened to the box office guru?

(Reply to this)
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