Del Toro directs Halo

By Joshua Tyler Dec 2, 2005, 15:08 GMT

After all the hubbub, we still don’t know much about what’s really happening with Microsoft’s upcoming ‘Halo’ movie project. Their in-house produced script was delivered with much fanfare and the addition of Peter Jackson to the project as an executive producer only amped the excitement up further… but who’s really in charge of making this thing?

The rumors have been ridiculous. We’ve heard everything from Steven Spielberg to Uwe Boll touted as a possible director for ‘Halo’, (though to be fair the only one touting Uwe Boll was Uwe Boll) but none of this gossip was anything more than wild fan speculation. But today, rumor-site IESB claims they have the inside track on who will direct the biggest videogame to movie adaptation in history.

They say, that at a junket promoting ‘King Kong’ in New York, word started circulating that it’s going to be Guillermo Del Toro in the director’s chair for ‘Halo’, and that he’s currently in negotiations with exec producers Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh for the job. Del Toro could be a good fit. He’s a high caliber, big name director, of the type Microsoft and Halo game maker Bungie have insisted they’re going to get. His horror roots should serve him well in ‘Halo’s’ alien infested universe too.

Of course if true, this might be bad news for ‘Hellboy 2’, which Del Toro is supposed to be filming next. But Hellboy’s fate has always been a little uncertain anyway. The original ‘Hellboy’ movie didn’t exactly clobber the box office with its right fist of doom.

For now, we’ll wait around on an official announcement from Microsoft, Universal Pictures, or Peter Jackson’s producing team to confirm it. Expect some sort of final word from them in the next few weeks.