It's official - a hobbit director for The Hobbit
Another plumpish, bearded, curly haired, spectacles-wearing director - with a ton of geek street cred - is tackling the Tolkien universe.
Spain's Guillermo del Toro, the man behind the Hellboy movies, Blade II and, most importantly, Pan's Labyrinth, has finally been officially announced as the director of The Hobbit.
Split into 2 films, to cover the Hobbit storyline and events that fill the 50-60 year gap between the events of this tale and the beginning of The Fellowship of the Ring, The Hobbit is being produced by LOTR director Peter Jackson and his producer-screenwriter partner Fran Walsh.
In attempting to keep a strong sense of continuity between The Hobbit and the LOTR trilogy, The Hobbit will be filmed in New Zealand, and involve the considerable talents of many people involved in the LOTR movies. That includes the WETA and Wingnut Films teams, the same concept, make-up and special effects artists, as well as composer Howard Shore. You can also expect Ian McKellan, Andy Serkis and Hugo Weaving to reprise their roles as Gandalf, Gollum and Elrond respectively. No doubt other familiar faces will return as well once filming gets underway.
I'm currently re-reading The Hobbit in preparation for the films. Granted it is more of a children's book, and is therefore considerably lighter in tone than the LOTR series. However, the novel is still crammed with fantastic content for a potentially mind-blowing cinematic experience.
There are close encounters with trolls, a visit to Rivendell, goblin attacks in the mountains, the Gollum riddle contest, flaming Wargs and eagle rescues, Beorn the bear-man, Mirkwood spiders, epic battles, and, of course, Smaug the dragon. Given the variety of events, and assorted dwarvish and hobbit bumbling that occurs, The Hobbit feels most like The Fellowship of the Ring in the LOTR trilogy.
According to the Variety article, linked to above, we can look forward to The Hobbit films most likely in late 2011 and 2012.
Spain's Guillermo del Toro, the man behind the Hellboy movies, Blade II and, most importantly, Pan's Labyrinth, has finally been officially announced as the director of The Hobbit.
Split into 2 films, to cover the Hobbit storyline and events that fill the 50-60 year gap between the events of this tale and the beginning of The Fellowship of the Ring, The Hobbit is being produced by LOTR director Peter Jackson and his producer-screenwriter partner Fran Walsh.
In attempting to keep a strong sense of continuity between The Hobbit and the LOTR trilogy, The Hobbit will be filmed in New Zealand, and involve the considerable talents of many people involved in the LOTR movies. That includes the WETA and Wingnut Films teams, the same concept, make-up and special effects artists, as well as composer Howard Shore. You can also expect Ian McKellan, Andy Serkis and Hugo Weaving to reprise their roles as Gandalf, Gollum and Elrond respectively. No doubt other familiar faces will return as well once filming gets underway.
I'm currently re-reading The Hobbit in preparation for the films. Granted it is more of a children's book, and is therefore considerably lighter in tone than the LOTR series. However, the novel is still crammed with fantastic content for a potentially mind-blowing cinematic experience.
There are close encounters with trolls, a visit to Rivendell, goblin attacks in the mountains, the Gollum riddle contest, flaming Wargs and eagle rescues, Beorn the bear-man, Mirkwood spiders, epic battles, and, of course, Smaug the dragon. Given the variety of events, and assorted dwarvish and hobbit bumbling that occurs, The Hobbit feels most like The Fellowship of the Ring in the LOTR trilogy.
According to the Variety article, linked to above, we can look forward to The Hobbit films most likely in late 2011 and 2012.
Comments
I'm curious to know whether they'll use Ian Holme as Bilbo again, or go for another younger actor in his place. I have the feeling the latter is more likely.