Universal Wants James McAvoy For MOUNTAIN OF MADNESS But Del Toro Wants Tom Cruise

As you know, Guillermo Del Toro and James Cameron are bringing you the adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft‘s AT THE MOUNTAIN OF MADNESS which Cameron promised to be an “epically scalled horror film”. Collider heard that Universal wants James McAvoy to play the lead but their sources also told them that director Del Toro wants Tom Cruise as the star. Another name in consideration is Chris Pine but scheduling conflicts might not allow him to do this project.
I don’t know why but Del Toro has a strange fascination for Cruise, it was rumored once that Cruise was going to star in the Del Toro’s new VAN HELSING movie which of course never happened so I guess this is Del Toro’s other way to be able to work with the man many think is losing his ability to draw box office bucks.
AT THE MOUNTAIN OF MADNESS will be shot in 3D using FUSION 3D Cameras from PACE. They’ve fast tracked the project and it will start in the 2nd quarter of 2011. The book originally published in 1936 was about a group of explorers in Antartica who stumble onto a group of creatures called “Elder Things” and what comes after that is terror after terror.