Del Toro Quits 'The Hobbit'

[Morthoron]

Our friends over at TORn have announced the departure of Guillermo del Toro from his directing role of the two 'Hobbit' movies:

http://www.theonering.net/

Everything seems huggy/kissy regarding GDT's abrupt departure after a couple years of pre-production, but, as I am inherently cynical, I don't believe this bodes well.

I was really looking forward to someone other than Peter Jackson directing The Hobbit. Bah.

P.S. The site is pretty overwhelmed currently, so I am directing you to the main page and not necessarily the article, which is on the 1st page at the moment.

[Ibrîniðilpathânezel]

I fear I would only be happy if someone other than Jackson and his cronies was writing the screenplay. It all starts there.

I had no trouble getting to the article, Morth. Took about 20 seconds for it to connect, but otherwise no problem. It's bound to be sporadic.

[Inziladun]

Brinniel gave this link in another thread.

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Inziladun

Brinniel gave this link in another thread.

ROFLMAO! I would suggest a thread entitled "Hobbit Movie Progressing" is not necessarily the best spot to discuss the director leaving the film. In most cases, this would not be considered progress.

[Brinniel]

ROFLMAO! I would suggest a thread entitled "Hobbit Movie Progressing" is not necessarily the best spot to discuss the director leaving the film. In most cases, this would not be considered progress.

Heh, yeah I did realise that. But seeing how many threads already exist on the subject of Hobbit news updates, I decided to post in the most recently active existing thread in an effort to save space. Though I suppose you could say The Hobbit is still progressing...just now in a different direction..

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Brinniel

Though I suppose you could say The Hobbit is still progressing...just now in a different direction..

Progressing, regressing, digressing, retrogressing -- in any case, it is quite distressing.

[Mister Underhill]

Originally Posted by Morthoron

...the director leaving the film. In most cases, this would not be considered progress.

Ha! Depends on your point of view, I guess.

In this case, though, it surely is a blow to the project. I was excited to see Del Toro's darker, more fantastic sensibility in The Hobbit. I can't say I'm surprised, though, the way things have been dragging out with all the legal battles and MGM's financial troubles. I'm sure GDT's career has lost some steam while spinning wheels in New Zealand for a couple of years only to come up empty-handed. It's a tough business.

It will be very interesting to see what happens in terms of a new director. At this point it seems logical for Jackson to step in. Tintin is in the can, and he got a palette-cleansing, smaller scale film out of his system with The Lovely Bones. If they go with a new name director, it seems inevitable that they'll have to go back to the drawing board with the script and design. I suppose there's always the chance that Jackson could go more the Empire-era Lucas route and get a "hired-gun" kind of director to execute the vision that's already been generated.

The business of bringing The Hobbit to the big screen has become a saga in and of itself, hasn't it?

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Mister Underhill

I suppose there's always the chance that Jackson could go more the Empire-era Lucas route and get a "hired-gun" kind of director to execute the vision that's already been generated.

That might be the best bet for making a movie true to the spirit of the book. After all, everyone knows Empire was the best installment of the Star Wars saga.

[Son of Númenor]

Originally Posted by Mister Underhill

was excited to see Del Toro's darker, more fantastic sensibility in The Hobbit.

I was too. I hadn't seen Pan's Labyrinth until a few days ago and was really impressed with the mythic/archetypal characters he created. It definitely opened up my imagination with regards to how The Hobbit movies could turn out.

It will be very interesting to see what happens in terms of a new director. At this point it seems logical for Jackson to step in. Tintin is in the can, and he got a palette-cleansing, smaller scale film out of his system with The Lovely Bones.

I sincerely hope Jackson does not do these films. He has made some real garbage since the LOTR trilogy IMO.

A name that pops to my head is Alfonso Cuaron. He directed The Prisoner of Azkaban, the most highly critically regarded of the Harry Potter films, produced Pan's Labyrinth, and generally has a good directorial touch with regard to character and setting. But I doubt he's even in the consideration.

The business of bringing The Hobbit to the big screen has become a saga in and of itself, hasn't it?

The road goes ever on and on, down from the high-rise offices where the legal wrangling began...