First announced at San Diego Comic-Con way back in 2010, the long-developing Guillermo del Toro-produced adaptation/interpretation/cinematic rendering of Disney ride The Haunted Mansion finally seems to be taking shape, with Drive‘s Ryan Gosling in talks to star.
The Wrap reports Gosling (whose directorial debut Lost River hits this weekend) is in talks to star in The Haunted Mansion, but no word on del Toro’s full involvement. The initial announcement saw the Pan’s Labyrinth filmmaker writing and producing. He’s since worked on multiple drafts of the film and told Reddit last year that 50-60 pieces of art were created, as were maquettes of the Hat Box Ghost over the face and body of frequent creature collaborator Doug Jones. del Toro said he’d love to direct, contingent on timing. He also noted, “…but we have not succeeded yet in cracking the screenplay. I have to believe that Disney will make this movie as soon as we crack the screenplay, but until then we cannot tackle it.”
Last March, del Toro hosted a conversation with Gosling at SXSW about Lost River. They’ve since had some quality bro time at Disneyland. For more on Gosling and Lost River, see our video interview with the filmmaker and his cast.
