Guillermo Del Toro Wants To Direct Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows

Exercising his key to the Hollywood kingdom, Guillermo del Toro says the time is right for him to shake a deathstick at the Harry Potter franchise. The mastermind behind Pan's Labyrinth and Hell Boy tells MTV that he's the perfect badass to envision Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and finale (for now) literary tale of the wizard.

"I'm definitely interested," he insisted, "now that the movies have grown darker. They have a contrast between the gloomy existence of the kid and the world he's exposed to. They have evolved into a really nice universe."

At one time, Del Toro's name was mentioned to direct the third film, The Prisoner of Azkaban, which ultimately went to his good friend Alfonso CuarÏŒn and is still generally recognized as tops amongst critics and adults. Back in October, he informed MTV Budapest that Deathly Hallows was more to his liking, saying "I'm up to be the one who kills twenty guys." Well then, he gets my vote. Not only does the material play to del Toro's strong suits, but he seems to have a genuine passion and festering vision for it.

"I got ['Deathly Hallows'] for my daughter and she was like 'When are you going to give it to me?'" he smiled. "I read it and I was very moved by the ending. It ends very much like a Dickens novel."

Thus far, the Harry Potter movies have served their purpose, but I wouldn't refer to any of them as classic fantasy or children's films. They feel too much like well-honed products to me and lack a certain magic and wonderment. It would be fantastic for del Toro to send the franchise, one that surely fired up millions of kids' first love for movies, off with an installment that was pure, sweeping cinema. But in the minds of studio execs, might it contrast too much with the prior films?