No director has more famous unrealised projects than Guillermo del Toro. At the Mountains of Madness, a Lovecraftian epic once set to star Tom Cruise, was shelved because of budgetary and rating concerns. The Mexican auteur’s Justice League Dark, Haunted Mansion reboot and Hellboy III were all lost to development hell.

Del Toro’s sketches for The Hobbit, which he was set to direct in 2008 before that project drifted back to Peter Jackson, tantalisingly reframe Tolkien’s epic as a direct response to the first World War. These unmade films have only amplified del Toro’s mythical status as a cinematic visionary.

“You never walk away,” he says. “You get dragged away. I’ve written or co-written 42 screenplays and directed 13 films. That means nearly 30 projects never got made – or someone else made them, like The Hobbit. Over 25 scripts I’ve written never saw the light of day.

“Some you outgrow. Some weren’t yours to begin with. And some you just hold on to until someone finally gets it. Pinocchio took 20 years to make. And then Netflix said yes. Sometimes you just wait. And wait. And then the door opens.”

Del Toro’s Frankenstein might have been another might-have-been. The director’s quest to adapt Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel has spanned more than 30 years, marked by false dawns and studio politics. First announced in the early 1990s, the project was repeatedly shelved because of financial concerns, creative differences or changing industry vogues.

“When I came to Netflix, I’d a