Emma Stone to Star in Guillermo del Toro’s Crimson Peak?

Guillermo del Toro always has his hands in a number of projects at the same time, but his next feature film after Pacific Rim is expected to be Crimson Peak for Legendary Pictures. The classical ghost story is still in the early development stages, but it's being reported that del Toro wants Emma Stone for the lead role.

According to Variety, Emma Stone is in early negotiations to start in the film and is expected to officially sign on shortly. Crimson Peak was written by Guillermo del Toro and Matthew Robbins, and was described by del Toro as “a very set-oriented, classical but at the same time modern take on the ghost story. It will allow me to play with the conventions of the genre I know and love, and at the same time subvert the old rules."

Guillermo del Toro also mentioned that Legendary Pictures is giving him a decent budget for this film and he’s aiming for a movie that can sit next to some of the great classic horror films. Here’s what he had to say about his influences:

“To me that is Robert Wise’s The Haunting, which was a big movie, beautifully directed, with the house built magnificently. And the other grand daddy is Jack Clayton’s The Innocents. I’ve always tried to make big-sized horror movies like the ones I grew up watching... Films like The Omen, The Exorcist and The Shining, the latter of which is another Mount Everest of the haunted house movie. I loved the way that Kubrick had such control over the big sets he used, and how much big production value there was. I think people are getting used to horror subjects done as found footage or B-value budgets. I wanted this to feel like a throwback.”