Justin Simien Talks Guillermo del Toro’s Scrapped Haunted Mansion Movie
While Disney’s Haunted Mansion will finally hit theaters tomorrow, it has been a long road to cinemas for the film.
Following 2003’s Haunted Mansion starring Eddie Murphy and the poor reviews that came along with it, Disney wanted to take their next stab at a Mansion movie in a different direction.
In 2010, development started on a reboot, with Guillermo del Toro writing and directing the project. Del Toro was best known for his horror films including Pan’s Labyrinth and Mimic. The director noted that his take on the film would be “scary and fun at the same time, but the scary will be scary.”
Del Toro’s Film Was Scrapped
Del Toro would eventually submit his final draft of the film in August 2012, but then the project stalled. In 2013, Del Toro announced that he was no longer directing the film. He would, however, still stay on as co-writer and executive producer.
Following years of inactivity, in August 2020 it was announced that Katie Dippold had signed on to write a new screenplay for the film. Del Toro’s script was apparently deemed too scary for family audiences.
Justin Simien On The Film’s Development
As the Haunted Mansion finally makes its way to theaters, The Direct’s Russ Milheim spoke with director Justin Simien about the film. In the interview, Simien, who was brought on to direct in 2020, was asked if there were any lingering remnants of Del Toro’s version of the movie
“You know, I never got a chance to really interact with Guillermo [del Toro’s] version of the movie. By the time it came to me, Katie Dippold had written a brilliant sort of adaptation way in. I have absolutely no idea how that development process occurred.”
‘Haunted Mansion’ Doesn’t Pull Any Punches
While Del Toro’s film was apparently scrapped for being too scary, Simien was adamant that his version of the film “not pull its punches.”
“But I do know that I was really adamant about the movie not pulling its punches because the classic Disney movies don’t pull their punches. The classic Disney movies are terrifying to this day. And they’re more terrifying as you get older and recognize the existential implications of things. Like Donkey Kid Island and being haunted by your stepmother and your uncle killing your father. And all of these moments, you know, they make these movies sort of iconic. And they stay with you for your whole life when you lean into that stuff.”
While Del Toro’s film will remain one of the great “what if’s?” in Disney film history, in some capacity at least the ethos of his film lives on.
Disney’s Haunted Mansion is in theaters July 28.
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