The Hobbit / LOTR: Middle Earth
Internet users are invited to speak with The Hobbit producer Peter Jackson and director Guillermo del Toro in a live internet chat.
Fans anticipating the release of the Lord of the Rings prequel will have the chance to ask their questions about the latest adventure in Middle-Earth in the one-hour chat taking place May 24 on the WETA website (registration required).
The exact starting time of the chat by timezone is as follows: Los Angeles 1pm, New York 4pm, London 9pm, Paris, Berlin, Rome 10pm, Sydney (May 25) 6am, Wellington 8am.
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TheOneRing.net scored an exclusive interview with Guillermo del Toro, who was confirmed last week as the director for the adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and its sequel film.
Del Toro stressed that the continuity between his two films and Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy is paramount, and that he’s already been in contact with the likes of Andy Serkis (Gollum), Sir Ian McKellen (Gandalf), and composer Howard Shore. Prep work starts this summer, including “reforestation” of The Shire sets to achieve a close match to how it was seen in Fellowship of the Ring, which is set approx. 50 years after events in The Hobbit.
Del Toro also denies that the decision to shoot a second film, set between The Hobbit and Fellowship, is not just a ploy to double the studio’s profits: “This second film is not a ‘tag on’, it’s not ‘filler’, it’s an integral part of telling the story of those 50 years of history lost in the narrative. There will be certain things that we will see from the first movie but from a different point of view, but it will feel like a volume, in the five volumes of the entire story.”
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After months of struggle pen has finally been put onto paper: Guillermo del Toro has officially signed on to direct The Hobbit and its sequel, reports Variety.
The widely expected announcement came Thursday afternoon jointly from executive producers Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, New Line president Toby Emmerich, and Mary Parent, newly named chief of MGM’s Worldwide Motion Picture Group.
Del Toro’s moving to New Zealand for the next four years to work with Jackson and his Wingnut and Weta production teams. He’ll direct the two films back to back, with the sequel dealing with the 60-year period between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, the first of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy.
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While Guillermo del Toro’s engagement on The Hobbit is still not completely set in stone, the director has confirmed that there has been significant progress on the project behind-the-scenes.
Writing in the official forums for his upcoming Hellboy II: The Golden Army, del Toro said: “Whew. Not yet. But there has been a lot of movement. And for the last few weeks there has been a lot of creative/cast/crew/visual talks and agreements, and we have witnessed great progress in areas that I cannot disclose or that have already leaked from other sources.”
He added: “I am dying to share news, but I have to be patient and wait until the papers are done and my attachment is real. Nevertheless, a lot of progress in defining the films, their cast and crew. And, may I add, we are all happily in synch about all creative aspects so far and all willing and eager to move forth.” The two Hobbit films/Lord of the Rings prequels are scheduled for release in 2010 and 2011, respectively.
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Ian McKellen said on his blog that he would be appearing as Gandalf again in The Hobbit “if Peter Jackson and I have anything to do with it”.
The question on his blog posed was: “Will you again be our Gandalf in “The Hobbit” now that the deal is settled?” His answer was: “Yes I will, if Peter Jackson and I have anything to do with it, he being the producer and me being, on the whole, a very lucky actor.”
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Despite previous reports that he was locked on to direct the two Peter Jackson-produced The Hobbit films, Guillermo del Toro is still not officially on board.
The Pan’s Labyrinth-director told TheOneRing.net: “At this stage anything I say is of no consequence for I am not yet signed to do “The Hobbit.” Negotiations advance but are still ongoing.”
Nevertheless, del Toro is dilligently preparing for the major task: “All I can say is that I am diligently going through all Tolkien material related to Middle-earth but only as a way of bridging a gap in my reading. I still respond the strongest to ‘The Hobbit,’ but as an avid reader of Mythology I find a lot of his other writings fascinating. A perfect Cosmology forged from very eclectic sources.”
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The estate of Lord of the Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien is suing New Line Cinema over failed payment of gross profits on the three blockbuster films released between 2001 and 2003.
Together with Harper Collins publishers the Tolkien Estate claims that a contract from 1969 entitles them to 7.5% of the film revenues. With the Lord of the Rings films making nearly $6 billion, the Tolkien Estate feels it is owed the tidy sum of approx. $150 million which New Line sp far has failed to pay even in parts.
The Tolkien Estate is not only seeking legal compensation however, but also the right to terminate any further rights New Line may have to the Tolkien works. This obviously involves The Hobbit, meaning the planned two-part film adaptation that looked all set to go under the guidance of Guillermo del Toro and Peter Jackson may be in trouble once more.
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We may have to wait a little longer for confirmation that Guillermo del Toro is directing The Hobbit.
The acclaimed director of Pan’s Labyrinth told Total Film: ‘The reality is that the Hobbit story has broken early because the negotiations have not ended and The Hobbit is not a sure thing… The reality is, I will know that it’s happening when we have the final word and I am fully and officially on board.’
How badly does he want to do it though? ‘I would LOVE it. I bought all the Tolkien books that were available in Mexico when I was 11 years old, but the one that I read at 11 years old was The Hobbit. So it left an indelible mark in my imagination.’
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The search for a director for the back-to-back installments of JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit may be coming to an end. None other than Guillermo del Toro is in talks for the job, The Hollywood Reporter revealed today.
It seems that Del Toro built up a lot of goodwill when it comes to handling fantasy filmmaking with his Oscar-winning Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy and Blade 2 (which was made by New Line). Del Toro would oversee the two films’ writing - once the WGA strike is resolved - together with Peter Jackson, who due to his commitments on The Lovely Bones and Tintin refused the director’s chair on The Hobbit, opting for the role as executive producer instead.
Principal photography for the films, which will be shot simultaneously, is tentatively set for 2009. The production budget is estimated at $150 million per film. The release of the first film is slated for 2010 and the second in 2011.
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MTV has spoken to Lord of the Rings star Elijah Wood about New Line’s planned adaptation of The Hobbit and a potential LOTR sequel that bridges the books.
‘I haven’t spoken to him [Peter Jackson] directly about it [but] I’ve e-mailed him, and as far as I know the two films that they’re doing, one will be ‘The Hobbit’ and another will take place between the 60 years that happened between ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings,’ said Wood, adding ‘If I’m asked to go back and revisit that character and it makes sense, I would love to. I would absolutely love to.’
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