In rumored talks to play the the lead role of geologist William Dyer in Guillermo Del Toro's next project At the Mountains of Madness is either Tom Cruise (Mission Impossible, Top Gun) or James McAvoy (The Chronicles of Narnia, Penelope).
Dyer leads and expedition to Antarctica to explore preciously discovered ruins in an unmapped area where they find remnants of ancient beings called Elder Things...
and something else.
A Tom Cruise William Dyer doesn't seem to be Guillermo's style, especially for a project like this.
It's hard to see Ethan Hunt as a geologist.
I would lean more toward James McAvoy as he could more likely pull of the professor image but he might not fit the bill either.
Both can act, there is no question there but this is sci-fi horror and those are mainstream names associated with other established franchises, especially Tom Cruise.
I would like to see an extremely talented fresh face for this one and seeing that James Cameron's onboard as a producer (but we all know he can't just sit back and watch the development) it would not seem amiss.
With a script following hopefully close to the novel by H.
P.
Lovecraft it's probable that Guillermo's Del Toro's style is the only director in Hollywood to pull this off.
Lovecraft is considered by many to be the equivalent to Sci-Fi horror what Tolkien was to fantasy and Hemingway was to historical war-time fiction.
That being said the anticipation bar for this film is being set extremely high.