Guillermo del Toro On GAME OF THRONES And LORD OF THE RINGS

Guillermo del Toro On GAME OF THRONES And LORD OF THE RINGS

How does an 'almost' director of The Hobbit compare and contrast two of today's most compelling sword and fantasy epics? Continue on to read what del Toro has to say on GOT and The Lord of the Rings.

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By MarkJulian - Jul 13, 2014 06:07 AM EST
Filed Under: Game of Thrones
Director Guillermo del Toro was at one time attached to helm The Hobbit prequels, however, creative differences and scheduling eventually led to del Toro pursuing other projects.  The Pacific Rim director is an unabashedly huge fan of Tolkien's master fantasy work so it's interesting to hear his take on Game of Thrones vs Lord of the Rings, which he addressed in his recent Reddit AMA

"I think that I have rarely been as transported in a movie theater as I was when I saw the Fellowship of the Ring unfold on the screen. I consider Peter Jackson one of the most gifted directors ever to tackle the fantasy genre. I believe that Game of Thrones, however, operates at a different level within arguably, the same genre. Game of Thrones has a social and sexual complexity that makes it a very different cutting-edge post-Vietnam Era fantasy story that deals with not only an impending enemy, or the purity of evil, but the relative evil that lurks within the hearts of all mankind. Therefore, tonally, I think that the works of Tolkien provides a completely different experience to Game of Thrones, but they are both masterworks of world creation."



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MisterHolmes
MisterHolmes - 7/13/2014, 6:29 AM
GOT=LOTR Porn
LaserKing
LaserKing - 7/13/2014, 6:35 AM
LOTR choke slams GOT...
DarthSandwich
DarthSandwich - 7/13/2014, 6:36 AM
Such a shame Del Toro didn't direct the Hobbit. P.J is great but we already saw what he can do, i wonder what Guilermo's version would have looked like.
THRILLHO
THRILLHO - 7/13/2014, 6:38 AM
GDT...
JillyMcBeam
JillyMcBeam - 7/13/2014, 6:40 AM
The difference is Lord of the Rings is a great piece of literature whereas Song of Ice and Fire series is not. If you actually go through and read the books and pay close attention, you will notice Martin is not a very good writer.
EhMaybeSays
EhMaybeSays - 7/13/2014, 6:42 AM
@Jilly
That's an unpopular opinion you have there mate.
MisterHolmes
MisterHolmes - 7/13/2014, 6:43 AM
Game of Thrones is an overhyped TV show bc it shows boobs and extensive violence to make up for its ridiculous amount of down time in each episode, 80% of a character list that I could give two shits about, Plot that makes Spiderman 3 look like it was as well written as JAWS, names that you cant pronounce, cliffhangers that take 5 seasons to resolve, Seriously, Winter is still [frick]ing coming, we are going into season 5 and winter is coming i mean, i thought it came already and i missed something but no, its still coming, in show time its been wat, over a year has past? why were they even talking about winter in the first season, its not like they did anything to prepare for it. Game of Thrones is't the worst show, and I know i sound like i hate it, but i enjoy it, i think its WAYYYYY over hyped but its good. but just because you have a billion characters and plots doesn't make it amazing writing, its an average show with a budget and on HBO to show boobs just when you think about turning it off
EhMaybeSays
EhMaybeSays - 7/13/2014, 6:43 AM
Guillermo could make a masterpiece with JLD if he actually makes an attempt.
Prime
Prime - 7/13/2014, 6:47 AM
Game of Thrones has boobies.
MisterHolmes
MisterHolmes - 7/13/2014, 6:53 AM
I might have started something, but im ready for this
Super12
Super12 - 7/13/2014, 7:00 AM
GOT does not come close to touching LOTR. That's not to say GOT is bad, but its not close to the definition of epic: the beautifully crafted and masterful works of Professor Tolkein. One has elegance, richness and class. The other shock and awe, with little to no subtlety.
ALegendaryPanda
ALegendaryPanda - 7/13/2014, 7:08 AM
LOTR and GOT are both incredible and totally different from each other. And people that say Game of Thrones is just good because of boobs are complete morons, just saying.
MisterHolmes
MisterHolmes - 7/13/2014, 7:13 AM
@ALegendaryPanda
Im going to assume your not talking about my explination bc if you are then you clearly didnt read the other words in the comment stating other problems with the show other than boobs
MisterHolmes
MisterHolmes - 7/13/2014, 7:13 AM
@Super12
"One has elegance, richness and class. The other shock and awe, with little to no subtlety"
Exactly
Facade
Facade - 7/13/2014, 7:16 AM
LOTR > GOT
ALegendaryPanda
ALegendaryPanda - 7/13/2014, 7:18 AM
@Holmes

Well no I wasn't talking about you, I'm talking about idiotic comments I see all over the internet saying shit like "game of thrones is just LOTR with boobies!!"

I did read your comment and I disagree with you on pretty much everything you said, but my previous comment wasn't directed at you.
thejfather1
thejfather1 - 7/13/2014, 7:24 AM
I know many people wont agree, and thats fine.

I think I may actually like GoT better than Lord of the Rings. I have read the trilogy, the Hobbit, the Silmarillion, The Children of Hurin, and all of the published notes such as The Book of Lost Tales, etc. Even so, I think i may like ASOIAF better.

It may just be because it isnt finished yet and im eagerly anticipating the ending, and I havent reread Tolkien's works in probably a year and a half, but there we go, my opinion
MisterHolmes
MisterHolmes - 7/13/2014, 7:27 AM
@ALegendaryPanda
I agree ppl are stupid when all ppl say GOT is just LOTR with boobs, bc its clearly not, their nothing alike except they both have swords haha
ALegendaryPanda
ALegendaryPanda - 7/13/2014, 7:38 AM
I would love to see a Game of Thrones movie or multiple movies to close out the series, maybe after season 7
Sitterson
Sitterson - 7/13/2014, 7:38 AM
Guillermo gets it! This guy is my favorite director, and it's nice to know that he loves both franchises.
TheOverlord
TheOverlord - 7/13/2014, 7:40 AM
GDT is right, and there sure are a lot of haters on this Internet.
ComicFan523
ComicFan523 - 7/13/2014, 7:45 AM
I just reread Lord of the Rings a little while ago and I gotta say, every word that Tolkien wrote is a masterpiece. My only experience with Game of Thrones is from the show, and while I've enjoyed it from day one I'd have to say that it is really overhyped. I always thought I was the only person who didn't find Game of Thrones as genius as everyone makes it out to be, but looking at this board I guess I'm not.
TheNameIsBetty
TheNameIsBetty - 7/13/2014, 7:45 AM
Game of Thrones, the show, is literally all about the sex. The conflict is started because of the sex, and the nudity only fuels the "wow" factor.

I never got into it with the rest of everyone else, just because of reasons, but when I finally did decide to get into it I bought the first season on Blu-Ray and was fully prepared to binge watch it all at home in glorious 1080p Blu-Ray quality. Imagine my disappointment when I was presented with nothing but hard R-rated fantasy porn.

Okay....I'm giving GOT a hard time, it's not that bad. But I was expecting something else. Maybe I should read the books, but I honestly feel like without the nudity and/or sex the show would not be so popular. The plot is just too focused on the scandal of it all, I was hoping for something a little closer to LOTR actually, even if that's unfair of me.
BlackPhillip
BlackPhillip - 7/13/2014, 7:47 AM
As awesome as GOT is, it doesn't touch LOTR.
MisterHolmes
MisterHolmes - 7/13/2014, 7:52 AM
GOT isnt as good as ppl say, they think the mess of a plot is good and its not covered up by random sex scenes.
Bodwulf
Bodwulf - 7/13/2014, 8:02 AM
He is right,
They are both fantastic. Something that most of CBM.com can't comprehend. Because what would you have to fight about for 6-10 pages and 3 hours of your day.
SCURVYDOG619
SCURVYDOG619 - 7/13/2014, 8:03 AM
Imagine what del Toro could do directing an adaptation of the Drizzt books, or even Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser....
mbembet
mbembet - 7/13/2014, 8:06 AM
i hope someday Del Toro will direct The Legend of Zelda live action movie
Alphadog
Alphadog - 7/13/2014, 8:14 AM
I watched Game of Thrones for the first time this week. Binge watched the entire series and I was most pleasently suprised by it. I've watched the Lord of the Rigns two or three times and each time it gets better but it's still so boring. The scenes are waaaay to long and the tone isn't in any way energetic. Like, I don't feel excited. I thought that Game of Thrones would be like that but it's really fun to watch. I care a lot more about what is hapenning. I obviously haven't read the books of either series so I won't comment on them but just comparing the adaptations, Game of Thrones is great while Lord of the Rings is okay. Not even fine, just okay. GoT is also much more colorful than Lord of the Rings. It has much more interesting looking worlds.
Alphadog
Alphadog - 7/13/2014, 8:19 AM
I was also suprised with the nudity issue in the series. It's not at all what I imagined. Even though there's no necessity to actually show it it feels natural. Like it's doesn't really matter. It always has a role in the story and fleshing out the world. I think it's actually very tame. It's not very graphic in actuality (aside from a few things) and each season has less and less.
Alphadog
Alphadog - 7/13/2014, 8:24 AM
Getting back to the Lord of the Rings thing, my jaw dropped when I read that the someone in J.R.Tolkien's the family was offended by the movies because they transformed into an action movie for young people aged 15 to 25. How boring are the books if the movies were supposedly exciting.
Alphadog
Alphadog - 7/13/2014, 8:26 AM
I don't believe that though. I'm very confident that the books will be much more fun to read than the movies were to watch.
shamo
shamo - 7/13/2014, 8:31 AM
LOTR is awful. It's basically GOT if you took out all the cool shit.
Alphadog
Alphadog - 7/13/2014, 8:31 AM
I think that Guillhermo del Toro would of made the Hobbit movies more visually interesting but they would be very boring to me (I prefer the Hobbit movies to the Lord of the Rings because I actually remember how a scene started). All Peter Jackson and Guilhermo del Toro movies that I've seen are boring besides the Hobbit so even though I had no reason to prefer Peter Jackson to Guilhermo del Toro before the Hobbit movies came out, I now know that Peter Jackson did a good job with the movies while I still don't have any reason to belive that Guilhermo would of made the movies fun.
Alphadog
Alphadog - 7/13/2014, 8:34 AM
I haven't watched Hellboy in a while but I think it was moderately fun so maybe Guilhermo could do it but Pacific Rim wasn't interesting at all to me so...
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