Guillermo del Toro making his own version of The Secret Garden with Beasts Of The Southern Wild writer

United in their love of stories about young girls retreating into magical worlds and having shitty guardians, Pan’s Labyrinth director Guillermo del Toro and Beasts Of The Southern Wild co-writer Lucy Alibar are partnering on another adaptation of The Secret Garden for Universal. The project was originally intended for del Toro to direct, just long enough for everyone to have a good, hearty laugh about what has become an inherently sarcastic suggestion, given the list of things del Toro is attached to at any given moment. However, del Toro will still “guide Alibar creatively”—using a combination of electric shocks and macaroons, maybe—as they attempt to find their own unexpected path to Frances Hodgson Burnett’s novel that hasn’t already been realized in the many extant stage and screen versions. “I’m just spitballing here, but what if we put some monsters in the garden?” del Toro will say.