Tarzan Swings Into Production -- With Del Toro?

Can you imagine any post-WWII literature being remade and re-imagined as much as the classics of the 19th and early 20th Centuries? Maybe it's just too early. Maybe when I'm an old man, there will be countless adaptations of the Harry Potter books in the way there are presently many versions of Stoker's Dracula, Dickens' A Christmas Carol and Burroughs' Tarzan.

The constant reworking of classics, like Tarzan, likely has something to do with earlier films being too safe or censored. This accounts for remakes being sold as being truer to their source or as being an edgier revisit to something that exists as too innocent and simple in the consciousness of pop culture. The stories of Tarzan have been depicted as everything from childish adventures to mature drama, but Warner Bros. believes there is still another way to tell the tale of the man brought up in the wild.

The studio is looking at John Collee to write a script -- hopefully with Master and Commander in mind more than Happy Feet -- and Guillermo Del Toro to direct. The Pan's Labyrinth filmmaker would possibly be interested in taking on the project following the making of Hellboy 2: The Golden Army. Del Toro doing Tarzan? We know you have an opinion on this one ...

Fans of Del Toro may be familiar with his love of Edgar Rice Burroughs and the Tarzan books. In August, he told CHUD.com that he had read most of the Tarzan titles as a kid and was presently reading the entire series again from beginning to end. "They're much nastier than the Tarzan in the movies," he told the site, "much more complex than the Tarzan in the movies. They have more monsters and adventures and lost cities. They have a lot more going in the fantasy aspects."

Years earlier he told XFM that the Hellboy movies are like Burroughs' novels. "The first one was Tarzan," he said, "the second one is Tarzan in the City."

But Tarzan may not be Del Toro's dream project. According to Slashfilm, that may be Deadman, an adaptation of the DC Comics title, which the director describes as "my Lord of the Rings." He plans to write, storyboard and shoot a three-minute trailer for Warner Bros. to show the studio his vision for that project. The comic, about the ghost of a murdered trapeze artist who is granted powers by a Hindu goddess in order to avenge his death and help others in need, will possibly then be adapted in full by Del Toro and Gary Dauberman.

How all these plans will fit into Del Toro's schedule is yet to be determined. He has also been attached to direct 3993, which has also been reported as his next film following the Hellboy sequel.


More on Guillermo Del Toro and

Deadman:

Del Toro's a Deadman

Del Toro Enlists Deadman Help


Hellboy 2: The Golden Army:

Hellboy 2 Script Review

Guillermo del Toro: Hellboy 2 Has Great Villains


Pan's Labyrinth:

TIFF Interview: Pan's Labyrinth Director Guillermo del Toro

Cannes Review: Pan's Labyrinth

A Peek Inside Pan's Labyrinth


Other potential projects (probably now all off his plate):

Gaiman Enlists del Toro for Death

Del Toro Goes Hunting For New Witches

Del Toro Heeds The Call of the Sea

Del Toro makes a Killing