At the Mountains of Madness isn’t the first unmade film project that Guillermo del Toro and James Cameron tried to collaborate on. Back in 2001, Variety reported that Cameron, via his Lightstorm Entertainment company, bought the rights to the 2001 comic book miniseries The Coffin. Created by Phil Hester and Mike Huddleston, it’s a modern twist on the Frankenstein story. In it, Dr. Ashtar Ahmad has created a polymer suit that is able to trap the soul inside of it, where it can live on. But his research has been funded by a ruthless and very rich old man who will stop at nothing to extend his own life. When he sends assassins to kill Ahmad in order to stop him from sharing his discovery elsewhere, the badly wounded doctor manages to get into one of the suits. Now, essentially a vapour, he must take on the tycoon and his minions in order to save himself and those close to him, including his estranged young daughter. The black and white story feels very much like a movie, and exactly the kind of project del Toro would be interested in, with its Frankenstein premise, dramatic plot, steam-punkish hero, depictions of Hell and child in jeopardy. In fact, the protagonist is strikingly similar to the character of Johann Kraus – a psychic who, due to a paranormal accident, was reduced to an ecotoplasmic form and now lives as a vapour inside of a containment suit –  from del Toro’s Hellboy films. (Hellboy creator Mike Mignola premiered the character in 2003, two years after The Coffin.) The announcement about the film was originally made while del Toro was prepping Blade 2, so this was fairly early in his career. He was working on a script and confirmed that he would direct it, as well. The … Continue reading Dusting Off the Lid on THE COFFIN