Guillermo del Toro wants Tom Cruise to star in his next pic, “At the Mountains of Madness”, says Collider.

Universal, on the other hand, doesn’t share the filmmaker’s enthusiasm to use Cruise – they want James McAvoy (“Wanted”, the upcoming “X-Men : First Class”).

del Toro has been wanting to work with Cruise for a while; they were in talks to do a film based on legendary vampire slayer Van Helsing at one stage. Of course, considering his waning appeal at the box office, Cruise isn’t the no.1 choice for any studio tentpole these days – particularly one that’s got del Toro (“Pan’s Labyrinth”) and James Cameron (“Avatar”) attached as director and producer, respectively.

Will be interesting to see who gets their way.

“At the Mountain of Madness”, based on the book by H.P Lovecraft, is written in first-person perspective by the geologist William Dyer, a professor from Miskatonic University. He writes to disclose hitherto unknown and closely kept secrets in the hope that he can deter a planned and much publicized scientific expedition to Antarctica. On a previous expedition there, a party of scholars from Miskatonic University, led by Dyer, discovered fantastic and horrific ruins and a dangerous secret beyond a range of mountains taller than the Himalayas.

Production is due to begin on the film in May 2011.