James Cameron may have a bit of outspoken fanboy in his blood, too.
Of course, I say that in jest. Whether you are a fan of his work or not, there is no denying that James Cameron is one of the more powerful and influential directors in our era, especially within the sci-fi and fantasy genres. Backed by his track record in film-making, he seems to never be short on opinions or advice.
In an interview with Australia's Herald Sun, Cameron speaks briefly about his newly-formed partnership with Guillermo del Toro. In May, del Toro announced his departure from The Hobbit, which being produced by Peter Jackson, auteur of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Two months later, del Toro announced that he will be taking the helm of the film adaptation of HP Lovecraft's At The Mountains Of Madness, with Cameron producing.
Cameron mentions that he had been waiting a while for Del Toro to become available.
The Hobbit had been mired in messy delays due to MGM's difficulty to find financing for the
LOTR prequel. Cameron reveals that he had been "telling him for a long time to get out of [
The Hobbit] because there is only room for one captain on the ship" Cameron goes on to say, "Instinctively I knew that Peter was going to take over and do the movie."
Here is the excerpt from the
interview:
"I was telling him for a long time to get out of that thing because there is only room for one captain on the ship," Cameron says. "Instinctively I knew that Peter was going to take over and do the movie.
"Guillermo, to his credit, didn't listen to me and wanted to do continue and had some great designs - and I have seen all the designs. Of course he would have done a spectacular job, but don't we want to see Peter do it? He should do it and Guillermo should do his thing.
"That's what I told both of them - you should just stay in your corners."
Although del Toro did not immediately take heed of Cameron's advice, it turns out it may have been the best decision for everyone affected.
But it's easy to read too far into the subtext of Cameron's interview. While del Toro proponents may point to the interview as evidence that Jackson may have squeezed del Toro out, it seems more likely that creatively, it just makes more sense for del Toro and Jackson to focus on their own unique visions.
Jackson, of course, exploded into Hollywood with the 10-figure grossing trilogy of
The Lord of the Rings, capping it off with the Best Picture-winner,
The Return of the King. However, patrons and critics were not as kind to his latest entry,
The Lovely Bones. Whether the disappointment of the latter work had any influence on del Toro's departure seems highly unlikely, although not out of question. Nonetheless, it just made more sense for Jackson return to the familiar territory of the high fantasy of
The Hobbit.
Del Toro, on the other hand, will likely have a little more creative room -- and less scrutiny from the trilogy's fans -- to implement his trademark hauntingly-beautiful characters and set pieces. While del Toro is certainly one of the more respective creative directors in the industry, his flavor on
The Hobbit could have soured
LOTR's devotees. Signing on board to direct
The Hobbit ostensibly put del Toro in an tricky and onerous position: should he attempt to put his own stamp on the mega-franchise prequel by changing a tried-and-true recipe? Or should he merely take pages out of Jackson's handbook and appease the trilogy's fans, but risk derision for lack of originality?
Now that del Toro has "listened" to Cameron, we'll never have to know.