Guillermo del Toro spoke of his love for Swamp thing over the years, and at one point was even developing a Dark Justice League film for DC, which would have had Swamp Thing as its protagonist. I wondered why del Toro wasn’t in the mix to direct the Swamp Thing movie James Mangold is now attached and, according to James Gunn, Del Toro has never expressed any interest.
When asked by a fan on social media why he chose Mangold over del Toro, Gunn said, “Well, for starters James actually expressed his interest to me (Guillermo, who I know and love, hasn’t).”
So, that answers that! While I would have loved to see del Toro make a Swamp Thing or Justice League Dark movie, things just didn’t work out that way. Regardless, I’m excited to see what Mangold does with his Swamp Thing movie, and he seems really excited!
Del Toro previously gave some insight into his unrealized Justice League Dark project, saying, “I took a little bit of the opening of Alan Moore’s Constantine. And I took the dynamics between [Abby Arcane] and Swamp Thing, and I caught those revelatory moments where Deadman enters a body, as he experiences that being’s consciousness. And one of my absolute favorites is the demon Etrigan. I love that character. You know, so you try to put them together… Zatanna is really, to me, another character that’s really powerful and effortlessly interesting. Trying to mix it with Klarion the Witch Boy… I was a DC guy.”
Mangold had already spoken of a rapprochement James Gunn AND Pietro Safran on the idea of making the film, saying, “Basically, the moment I heard that DC was going through a leadership convulsion and James was taking over, I saw it as an opportunity to throw my hat down – I mean, I just called them up and said, “In all the things you guys are doing, if the idea of me making a gothic horror movie, Swamp Thing origin story fits, tell me.”
The director went on to say that he has no intention of building a cinematic universe for Swamp Thing, he just has a story he wants to tell. He compares it to RoboCop: “It’s no different than what others do with me; I have no plan for a universe, I’m not building someone to join in some future. Do it, but I’d just be interested in telling it, I’ve always been interested in doing a version of Frankenstein, basically, and, yet, I feel, ‘he IS alive!’ enough has been done, but Swamp Thing always came to mind as this wonderful take on a Frankenstein story, very similar to one of my favorite pop movies growing up, RoboCop, the original one. This guy waking up and transforming, discovering he’s become a machine, that was something that fascinated me with Logan, obviously.
Mangold also says he likes the idea of making Swamp Thing a “noir, mystery, horror film about a guy who wakes up and he’s this thing.” He added: “There’s a kind of amnesia of, ‘How did I get here and who did this to me?’ So I’m imagining a horror-noir film that follows a creature that can’t be seen, trying to piece together, from fragments of memories, what happened and who did it. And none of that goes against Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson and all the great work that was done… I’m just framing it in a new cinematic context, but it’s everything they were exploring in these comics and so beautifully.”
Are you excited for Mangold’s Swamp Thing or would you have preferred to see del Toro make the film?
by Joey Paur
Source: Geek Tyrant
Lloyd Grunewald is an author at “The Fashion Vibes”. He is a talented writer who focuses on bringing the latest entertainment-related news to his readers. With a deep understanding of the entertainment industry and a passion for writing, Lloyd delivers engaging articles that keep his readers informed and entertained.
