Del Toro Quits 'The Hobbit'

[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...

[Aiwendil]

Originally Posted by Mr. Underhill

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

So was I. I was particularly looking forward to seeing how his style would interact with Jackson's hyper-realistic approach; collaborations between people with divergent aesthetic sensibilities sometimes result in something new and wonderful and sometimes in utter rubbish, but they're almost always interesting.

Originally Posted by Son of Numenor

A name that pops to my head is Alfonso Cuaron.

An interesting idea. I have to say, though, that I was not terribly impressed with the direction in Azkaban. It struck me as over the top in a lot of little ways - for instance, I thought the whole Knight Bus sequence was rather over-done.

[Mister Underhill]

Originally Posted by Son of Númenor

A name that pops to my head is Alfonso Cuaron.

Interesting. Can't say I'm very familiar with his work. Children of Men had some interesting stuff in it, but it was way too bleak for my tastes. I saw Azkaban but don't remember a lot of details. He's pals with Del Toro, though, so actually it seems there's a good chance that his name has been thrown into the pot.

Originally Posted by Aiwendil

...collaborations between people with divergent aesthetic sensibilities sometimes result in something new and wonderful and sometimes in utter rubbish, but they're almost always interesting.

Indeed! I think that sort of tension was part of what made Raiders of the Lost Ark so dynamic.

[Son of Númenor]

Interesting. Can't say I'm very familiar with his work. Children of Men had some interesting stuff in it, but it was way too bleak for my tastes. I saw Azkaban but don't remember a lot of details. He's pals with Del Toro, though, so actually it seems there's a good chance that his name has been thrown into the pot.

Yeah, I thought of him because of his involvement in Pan's Labyrinth. I actually never saw Azkaban (or any other HP film for that matter); was just going on its critical reception. I like a lot of his Spanish-language stuff, particularly Y Tu Mama Tambien, although thematically/generically it couldn't be more different from The Hobbit.

[Lastande Took]

When I found out this morning, my reactions were in this order: panic, cry, get angry, plot to take over and direct it myself, and now I'm just sadly waiting this whole business out. I was getting excited about a live-action Hobbit.

[Nogrod]

Del Toro doing it was clearly too good to be true... (not my favourite director but one of the best available with big money today)

So back to the real-life. Maybe we'll get some smooth Hollywood director to make it a mixture of epic phantasy, romantic comedy and even more of the teen-audiences sucking tricks / actors then?

Tough times in Wall Street, lousy market-oriented movies in Main Street...

[Mister Underhill]

Originally Posted by Son of Númenor

I sincerely hope Jackson does not do these films.

Update: Entertainment Weekly's website is reporting that Jackson's manager has ruled out Jackson as the director.