Del Toro And Jackson With Some Hobbit News

Del Toro And Jackson With Some Hobbit News

In an exclusive interview with Empire magazine, Guillermo Del Toro and Peter Jackson shed some light on the layout of The Hobbit movies..

News
By MarkCassidy - Apr 18, 2009 11:04 AM EST
Filed Under: Other

We’ve known for a while that Peter Jackson and Guillermo Del Toro’s eagerly-awaited adaptation of the Lord Of The Rings prequel, The Hobbit, would comprise two movies, due in December 2011 and 2012. But the make-up of those two movies has been up for debate… until now.

Empire spoke to both Del Toro and Jackson for they're birthday issue, and they told them the latest, which is…

“We’ve decided to have The Hobbit span the two movies, including the White Council and the comings and goings of Gandalf to Dol Guldur,” says Del Toro.

“We decided it would be a mistake to try to cram everything into one movie,” adds Jackson. “The essential brief was to do The Hobbit, and it allows us to make The Hobbit in a little more style, if you like, of the [LOTR] trilogy.”

So there you go. The second film will not, as had previously been suggested, be a film that will bridge the 60-year gap between The Hobbit and the start of Fellowship Of The Ring.

Good news for Tolkien purists, bad news for anyone hoping to see younger versions of Aragorn, Legolas etc back on the screen

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LastSon1027
LastSon1027 - 4/18/2009, 11:22 AM
This is awesome news. I am a Tolkien purist for sure. He is in my opinion the greatest author of all time. Great post ror.
TucsonRican
TucsonRican - 4/18/2009, 12:45 PM
Cool.
TheSoulEater
TheSoulEater - 4/18/2009, 12:59 PM
Cool!!
darthstern
darthstern - 4/18/2009, 10:03 PM
talk about milking a cash cow good pull on the info ror
and nick cage for gandalfs staff
CrookedJaw
CrookedJaw - 4/18/2009, 10:22 PM
Sweet man, that's a good combo, Del Toro and Jackson, this movie will not only look great but will just be great
TheMyth
TheMyth - 4/18/2009, 10:35 PM
FINALLY!!! I have been waiting for this news for some time. I read the Silmarillion last year, it's like the [frick]ing Middle-Earth Bible and reads like one too. It has some great lore and stories in it though.
GUNSMITH
GUNSMITH - 4/18/2009, 10:42 PM
PRACTICAL CREATURES LOOK MORE REAL...I BET HE'LL GET DOUG JONES TO PLAY SOMEBODY IN THE HOBBIT FILMS
ThunderCougarFalconBird
ThunderCougarFalconBird - 4/19/2009, 2:56 AM
Myth - Read that too. It's very good if not a little confusing with all the names flying around! It gives you a great understanding of where these creatures came from and breaths an new lease of life into the other books.
SoulAllFlush
SoulAllFlush - 4/19/2009, 6:16 AM
"bad news for anyone hoping to see younger versions of Aragorn, Legolas etc back on the screen"

haha but good news for adults, so that's the important thing. It's a shame the other Middle Earth books are pretty much unfilmable.
Betty
Betty - 4/19/2009, 7:41 AM
@ Mr. Jojo Risin-- I've never known that about the dark tower series. I'll check it out.

I cant wait for this. The hobbit was my favorite by far.
TucsonRican
TucsonRican - 4/19/2009, 8:55 AM
@ Mr. JoJo Risin:

Did you hear that J.J. Abrams is doing The Dark Tower series for films?

Whose your choice for Roland? I think Clint Eastwood is who King based him off of....
GUNSMITH
GUNSMITH - 4/19/2009, 9:59 AM
OOH DARK TOWER? JOSH BROLIN?..THOMAS JANE?..WHOS THE CAPTAIN ON FIREFLY GUY?
MarkCassidy
MarkCassidy - 4/19/2009, 10:26 AM
Nathon Fillion...iv never read the dark tower but i certainly will now! I think King is a great writer..most of the time! Salems lot is a classic, and The Dead Zone too
SpiderBat209
SpiderBat209 - 4/19/2009, 11:14 AM
WOW! Del Toro and Jackson: The Dream Team! These films are gonna kick @$$! :)
JeremyBentham
JeremyBentham - 4/19/2009, 11:20 AM
i read the Gunslinger, which is the first book of Dark Tower, and it was awesome. i actually read that abrams and damon lindelof will both make the film, after the final season of lost is done. it'll be awesome. i gotta read the other books!

i also read the Stand and loved that one too, it was epic (though a little drawn out)
Coats
Coats - 4/19/2009, 11:38 AM
Del Toro strikes that perfect balance between practical and CGI FX. Seeing him do a pure classic fantasy pic like this is going to be awesome. If Pan's and HB2 were any indication of what he can do with fantasy creatures we're in for a treat. Del Toro is a purist if Hellboy was any indication. If Tolkien was still kicking around, I guarantee that he'd be on set, collaborating as much as he wanted to be, as Mignola was.

@ gunsmith - great picks man, I'd go for any of those guys. Brolin seems like the best actor out of the three but Jane can be really good too, depending on the role and god, who doesn't love Fillion. He's even great on Castle, an otherwise pretty avg. cop comedy. Me and my wife can't stop watching him. All three could pull it off. I'm curious to see what abrams will do with it. There's a lot of possibility for this to be as big as LOTR if they want it to be.
TheMyth
TheMyth - 4/19/2009, 1:47 PM
Their is an entire continent I have no knowledge of, aside from when Ungoliant broke Morgoth's hold after destroying Telperion and Laurelin and she retreated to Ered Gorgoroth, which is a mountain range just across the Land Bridge from Middle-Earth.
Beastwood
Beastwood - 4/19/2009, 8:06 PM
mint!!!! i hate waiting lol
CockKnocker
CockKnocker - 4/20/2009, 12:41 AM
Actually Aragorn and Legolas were both alive in the time of the Hobbit so they could still be in the movie. Aragorn would be in his early twenties and Legolas, being an elf, would be the same as he is in LOTR. In fact in the Hobbit the dwarfs are captured and questioned by Legolas' father in the kingdom where Legolas lives. So he could easily have some cameos. If they are going to examine Gandalf's work at Dol Guldur, then Aragorn was involved in that as well.
MarkCassidy
MarkCassidy - 4/20/2009, 7:03 AM
Yeah i know they were alive but it sounds like they wont be deviating from the book by too much and since they are not in it..they prob wont be in the movie. Be nice if they made an appearance though. As long as they are not involved in the main plot.

Mr Jojo, isnt Randall Flagg the dude from The Stand? Is he the villain in The Dark Tower too? And man, you should have stuck with Lost! Season 4 has been the best since the first one
ThunderCougarFalconBird
ThunderCougarFalconBird - 4/20/2009, 7:17 AM
It would be good to see a very quick cameo from them or just have their names mentioned in passing. Anymore than that would be a little overindulgent I think.

The only thing that worries me about this film is the dragon. I have yet to see a really convincing dragon in film. With todays FX it should be easy but it's obviously an art that eludes film makers to this day.
comicb00kguy
comicb00kguy - 4/20/2009, 7:27 AM
As a Tolkien purist, I'm excited to hear that Peter Jackson is back involved with the Hobbit films. I wouldn't want to see this film done without him after the excellent job he did with LOTR, my favorite book(s) of all time. Last I'd heard, he had some big dispute with the studio and had left the project.There were faults in the LOTR movies, mostly the second one, but Jackson did such a fantastic job of bringing Middle Earth to life that I can look past that. I think it may be a little padded to make two films out of the story, but hopefully this just means that we won't see any of the story cut out for running time. I'm also quite pleased to hear of Del Toro's involvement in these movies. With all the garbage being spewed by Hollywood, it's good to know that at least one of my favorite stories is in good hands. I cnn't wait to see Smaug's lair! And the Dwarves! I also hope they can get Andy Serkis back as Gollum. Absolute greatness!!
Scorpioxfactor
Scorpioxfactor - 4/20/2009, 10:42 AM
I would love to make the Silmarillion a Triliogy. There is enough there to make 9 movies if they wanted to. But I would be happy with 3. Especially about my favorite character Feanor and the whole curse of the Simarils. If you have no clue what I am talking about. Go read Tolkien's the Silmarillion. It covers the 1st and 2nd age. There is also a power Metal band, that has some Baroque music in it, they have an concept album called "Nightfall in Middle Earth" based on the Silmarillion. Who would play Feanor? I don't know. that would be a tough choice. But a great warrior he was. Thank you for reading my blog. P.S. One last thing. The year Tolkien died. 1 Ring for the Dark Lords hand. 9 to the mortals. 7 to the Dwarves in their halls made of stone.
3 for the Kings of the Elves high in Light. 1973. Weird isn't it?
warpath15
warpath15 - 4/20/2009, 11:17 AM
If Del Toro is collaborating on this, expect it to be good.

(See Pan's Labrynth.)
Verdugo
Verdugo - 4/20/2009, 4:01 PM
I read the Hobit and loved the book, but I think it could have been done in only one long movie. Anyway I like the idea of 2 pictures, the only thing that bothers me is that we will have to wait for one year before we can see the hole history.
MarkCassidy
MarkCassidy - 4/20/2009, 4:16 PM
You know the one thing i always hated about the Hobbit..

SPOILER ALERT!

How Smaug is killed by Bard The Bowman. Who the whatman? Exactly! The character is mentioned in one paragraph..the same one he kills Smaug in..then never heard from again! I always thought it was just silly. I actually wouldnt mind if they gave the honor to Legolas in the movie..sorry purists!
BillyBlack
BillyBlack - 4/20/2009, 5:33 PM
Don't steal Bard the Bowman's only claim to fame!

Legolas gets mad ass as it is. How's Bard supposed to ever get any without that sweet pick up line?

And yes, Randall Flagg is from The Stand. But he also represents a greater evil (some say the Devil himself) which wouldn't preclude him from appearing elsewhere.

Oh, word up on LOST. 4th season changed the game. Actually season finale of 3rd season set it off, so if you gave up during season 3, you really cheated yourself. Their may have been some lean episodes in 3, but the payoff was all gravy.
BigHeadSarge
BigHeadSarge - 4/20/2009, 11:43 PM
CockKnocker/Rorshach, isn't Aragorn supposed to be a descendant of Bard the Bowman? There's supposed to be 60-or-so years in between The Hobbit and Fellowship, so I don't think Aragorn would have been in his twenties during Bilbo's journey.

Jojo, I've been waiting for someone to start talking about the Dark Tower Series! I would absolutely love to see these books put on film, or even on an HBO/Showtime miniseries. We should get Shaman on this casting call, but here are a few of my picks:
Roland - Hugh Laurie, Eastwood would have been perfect 20-30 years ago, but I think he could play Roland's father Steven quite well.
Eddie - Ryan Gosling
Detta/Odetta/Susannah - Gabrielle Union
Jake Chambers - Jordan Fry (Mike Teevee from Charlie & the Chocolate Factory)
For Walter/Flagg, I think a different actor in each scene would be a really cool idea, with one distinguishing feature so you'd know who it was, the special buttons, maybe?
TYLERWINN
TYLERWINN - 4/21/2009, 5:35 AM
Peter Jackson is the man! Del Toro is a hack, he should remake the muppets movies, thats his kind of crap!
MarkCassidy
MarkCassidy - 4/21/2009, 6:02 AM
Bigheadsarge i didnt know that about Aragorn being a descendant of Bard but as for the age thing, hes a Duneadain(spl?) so hes blessed with a longer life, in LOTR hes sposed to be in his 80s! So he would have been around at the time of the Hobbit as would Legolas.

Billyblack i actually still loved seasons 2 and 3 of lost..even though they had a lot of filler and some strange decisions were made! Some people have been turned off now that they have amped up the Sci Fi elements..but im glad they did. Its always been a Sci Fi show and now people have to admit it!

My prediction for the next character to buy the farm is Sayid. You cant shoot a kid on tv and live for much longer! Hope im wrong though
BillyBlack
BillyBlack - 4/21/2009, 11:13 AM
@ Rorschach01

Me too dude. Sayid is the cat's pajamas. I really love every season to tell you the truth. Season 2 is prob one of my faves, 3 did make some kooky choices, a lil too much love triangle, but it also provided some of my favorite lines. "The pigs are walkin here!" and "If you knew what this place really was, you wouldn't be putting chicken in your refrigerator!" immediately come to mind. I love the sci-fi aspect, and I think the final payoff after it's all said and done will be very gratifying. I think Sayid will find the other missing members of 815 (Rose, Bernard and the gang), but the fact that he tried to kill "him" as a boy will def cause him to be "judged" IMO. One question, then I'm done rambling. "What lies in the shadow of the statue?"
MarkCassidy
MarkCassidy - 4/21/2009, 12:21 PM
Well, im never one to shy away from giving my theories!

We know that the temple is directly underneath the statue..we know that Smokie lives in the temple..So my guess is that this new group must be something to do with finding it..or maybe even some kind of sect that worships it. Course they could be talking about a different statue!

I loved the Star Wars references in last weeks ep, but it wasnt the best otherwise. Hopefully now that Dans back wel get some answers
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