Tag: The Hobbit
Guillermo Del Toro Is directing ‘The Hobbit’!
The news that everyone was betting their One Rings on has finally been confirmed yesterday after Variety have reported that Guillermo Del Toro will be directing ‘The Hobbit‘.
The announcement was made by the original master of Middle Earth, producer Peter Jackson, co-producer Fran Walsh, New Line President, Toby Emmerich and recently titled chief of MGM‘s Worldwide Motion Picture Group, Mary Parent.
Guillermo del Toro On The Original Cast And That Law Suit
Empire caught up today with Guillermo del Toro and asked him for an update on the current situation with The Hobbit. Many sites have been reporting that his deal to direct is signed and sealed and just waiting for an end to the writers’ strike before it’s announced. But that’s not so, he says.
“I wish it was definite, but it isn’t,” he told us. “It’s still in talks, there are still a lot of ‘T’s to cross and ‘I’s to dot. It’s certainly not certain yet…But, as far as I’m concerned, [if it was definite] I would be packed in ten seconds”.
He’s not worried at this time about the lawsuit that was revealed earlier this week.
Tolkien Estate Sues New Line Cinema
The estate of “Lord of the Rings” creator J.R.R. Tolkien is suing the film studio that released the trilogy based on his books, claiming the company hasn’t paid it a penny from the estimated $6 billion the films have grossed worldwide.
The suit, filed Monday, claims New Line was required to pay 7.5 percent of gross receipts to Tolkien’s estate and other plaintiffs, who contend they only received an upfront payment of $62,500 for the three movies before production began.
The writer’s estate, a British charity dubbed The Tolkien Trust, and original “Lord of the Rings” publisher HarperCollins filed the lawsuit against New Line Cinema in Los Angeles Superior Court. If successful, it could block the long-awaited prequel to the films.
Robert Pini, a spokesman for Time Warner Inc.’s New Line, declined to comment.
Elijah Wood Hopes For The Return Of Frodo
MTV Movies Blog recently spoke with Elijah Wood about the upcoming Lord of the Rings prequel The Hobbit.
Wood stated about his conversation with Peter Jackson, “I haven’t spoken to him 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.”
Wood is excited at the possibility of coming back, “If I’m asked to go back and revisit that character and it makes sense, I would love to. I would absolutely love to. Nothing was really written with Frodo involved in it. That was sort of an ancillary tale outside of Lord of the Rings. I can’t imagine that they [Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens] would write great reams of information regarding my character. But if he [Frodo] should show up, it would actually be the perfect way to revisit because it could be small enough that I could go back and have a nice sort of reunion with the memories that I have of the experience.”
Wood is more excited about the film as a fan than a potential cast member, “It’s a great triumph [that Peter is involved.] I think that’s really important that the same team that worked on the [earlier] films [work on "The Hobbit"], the same effects team, that it be shot in New Zealand. I think that it’s important that Ian McKellen is cast as Gandalf, just so that there’s a synergy between the films. I think people want it to exist in the same world. So at least now we are assured that it will be done through that same lens, which is great. It’s exciting.”
The Hobbit will open in 2010.
Del Toro Direct ‘The Hobbit’?
On Thursday ‘Variety’ seemed to insinuate that Sam Raimi was the frontrunner to direct ‘The Hobbit’ films, but a new interview at Entertainment Weekly seems to suggest that Guillermo del Toro may not exactly be out of the running.
When asked about the feature Del Toro responded, “You know, I think I’ve been abroad too long. I’ve heard some rumblings, but nothing official. I don’t want to think about it because it’s such an eventuality. It’s the only Tolkien book I read. I tried my best to read ‘Lord of the Rings’, the trilogy. I could not. I could not. They were very dense. And then one day, I bought ‘The Hobbit’. I read it and I loved it. So it would be a privilege. But listen, I wish I knew. At this stage, after ‘Hellboy’, I’m unemployed.”
However, as for his comments, the one thing that sticks out is when he says ‘because it’s such an eventuality.’ This leads us to believe that he knows a little more than he is leading on.
