Its Official - its Del Toro

[Nazgûl-king]

This should be interesting; I can’t wait to see what he does with it.

[Lalaith]

Del Toro is great but he scares the bejaysus out of me. Mr Lalaith and I were both whimpering behind the sofa during Pan's Labyrinth. The Devils Backbone was brilliant, too.
I'd rather have seen him direct Children of Hurin, actually.

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

I just don't see what's scary about Pan's Labyrinth. I mean, actually scary. It's a creepy fantasy, like many of the best fairy tales. But more than that? I think you're havering, Lalaith.

Mirkwood, giant spiders, dragon: these should all be good. But I hope he makes it a whole lot more positive than PL. Bilbo's cheeriness should not be kept in the background.

[Lush]

Andrew O'Hehir is being grim. I am optimistic.

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

Del Toro never liked Tolkien's books? I haven't read much discussion on the Hobbit films but this could be problematic. Hmm?

[Lush]

I think it definitely could be problematic, but if he approaches it as a professional, I think a certain detachment might actually help.

Plus, you never know, he might have changed his mind somewhat in the interim. For example, if you asked me three years ago if I liked Ian McEwan, I would have just laughed. Nowadays, I count myself a fan.

[Mithalwen]

Well Jackson claimed to love LOTR ..... I can believe that the WETA people loved it but.... well maybe Wilde was right....

But the whole situation has the making of a complete pigs ear....

[Bêthberry]

It's astute to point out how Jackson seems to be emulating not only Lucas' Star Wars ethos but Lucas' climb up the professional ladder. (Or is that down the many levels? ) It's a great pity that being a superb director no longer seems to be an acceptable or culminating accomplishment any more. One must become an entertainment corporate entity. People will always take themselves wherever their ambition will lead them, but movies could well still benefit from the likes of directors such as Bergman, Lean, Kurosawa, or, not to sound so elvish, Sonderbergh, Mayao Miyasaki, Michael Moore, even Deepa Mehta--all directors who have established their style and tone as directors. (Not that I'm saying any of these should do TH). But there are those who don't use director as a stepping stone to directors of companies.

That bit of prosyletizing aside, I do think that DT could well work on his Tolkien credentials. Sure enough that those comments about heroic fantasy and swords and little people could be his attempt to ensure that his movie was not incorrectly catalogued as that sort of fantasy--Merlin adventures and all that. Yet at the same time he does need to demonstrate some appreciation for Tolkien's ethos if he hopes to avoid the kind of criticisms which Jackson has received. The Pan's Labyrinth website contains lots of media spin on DT's idea of fantasy and proclaims his credentials about the formal academic study of fairytale (which are even then selective). There's nary a mention of Tolkien's OFS. As I think I posted elsewhere on this forum, it would make a facinating interview (or media spin) for him to comment on Tolkien's idea of fairie.

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

That bit of prosyletizing aside, I do think that DT could well work on his Tolkien credentials. Sure enough that those comments about heroic fantasy and swords and little people could be his attempt to ensure that his movie was not incorrectly catalogued as that sort of fantasy--Merlin adventures and all that. Yet at the same time he does need to demonstrate some appreciation for Tolkien's ethos if he hopes to avoid the kind of criticisms which Jackson has received. The Pan's Labyrinth website contains lots of media spin on DT's idea of fantasy and proclaims his credentials about the formal academic study of fairytale (which are even then selective). There's nary a mention of Tolkien's OFS. As I think I posted elsewhere on this forum, it would make a facinating interview (or media spin) for him to comment on Tolkien's idea of fairie.

Does anyone find it disturbing that Jackson -- with all his pompous rewrites and the egocentric need to steer Tolkien's plot as his own private vehicle, not to mention his original time investment -- should surrender such power to another director? What, he's too busy for such an important project? He was a relative second tier director prior to LotR (not wishing to disturb Jackson apologists, but he was never spoken of in the same breath as his contemporaries Scorsese, Ridley Scott, Coppola et al), and his production since LotR remains spotty (King Kong was dreadful -- the original black and white version remains the standard).

And so, succumbing to the power of the Ring (in this case representing corruptive power), Jackson has become 'thin — sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread'. LotR was indeed Jackson's 'bread and butter', and I am still rather surprised he would relinquish the golden calf to a bull in the china shop (del Toro -- Ole!).

[davem]

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

That bit of prosyletizing aside, I do think that DT could well work on his Tolkien credentials. .

I think he is: http://www.superherohype.com/news/topnews.php?id=7098

GDT: There's the scope, and the learning curve, because the amount of things I've gotta learn. I fell in love with "The Hobbit" but I'm marrying an entire mythology. It's like meeting the family of a girl you're going to marry… you get them all, and I fell in love with "The Hobbit" and now I'm familiarizing myself with not only the trilogy--the trilogy I only finally read--but every single thing I can read that Tolkien generated about Middle Earth or about him I'm reading, and in terms of the visuals. In order for the two movies to seamlessly involve into the trilogy, I have to literally put myself through the biggest "making of" ever assembled. I'm going to watch all the dailies of "Fellowship" and I'm going to watch most of the dailies of "The Return of the King." I'll watch as much material as I possibly can take, the camera reports... everything. By the end of the second ("Hobbit") movie, you have to be able to have evolved towards "The Lord of the Rings" and feel that it's a complete continuation.