• Michael Cieply chats with comeback kid Ben Affleck, whose film “The Town” is set to play Venice this week. [New York Times]
• Remember when “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives” won the Palme d’Or? Parisian critics would rather not. [The Guardian]
• Catching up with Julian Schnabel, re: “Miral,” prior to Venice. [Variety]
At Comic-Con, director Guillermo Del Toro announced that one of his next projects would be a remake of Disney’s “The Haunted Mansion.” Del Toro would be co-writing and producing, though, not directing (and boy did that news get a split reaction from movie-goers). He said his next directorial gig would be announced shortly, and today, we get the answer.
Mike Fleming reports at Deadline.com that the “Pan’s Labyrinth” helmer will be a 3D adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s “At the Mountains of Madness,” a project he’s been circling since he set it up at DreamWorks in 2004. Now Universal has stepped in to breathe life into the film once more. But that ain’t the half of it.
As mentioned, it’ll be a 3D film. With that in mind, James Cameron has come aboard as producer, making this instantly an event film to anticipate, given the scope of Cameron’s 2009 3D ground-breaker “Avatar.” I still think one or two event films along these lines every year would have more impact than blindly converting various 2D titles and muddying the waters of potential for 3D filmed entertainment.