Peter Jackson and Guillermo Del Toro Dish About Middle Earth

Smaug

We have highlights from an online chat where Peter Jackson and Guillermo Del Toro answered a bevy of questions regarding their upcoming films. We get the following highlights thanks to our friends over at cinematical:

* Both films (The Hobbit and its Untitled Follow-Up) will be shot back-to-back in 2010, with the first arriving December, 2011 and the second in December, 2012. As far as rating goes, they’re shooting for “an intense PG-13.”

* They will not begin casting until the scripts are written, but said Ian McKellan will “absolutely” return as Gandalf and Ron Perlman will return; most likely not as the voice of Smaug.

* Howard Shore will return to score the films.

* On what exactly the second film will be about, del Toro said: “The idea is to find a compelling way to join THE HOBBIT and FELLOWSHIP and enhance the 5 films both visually an in their Cosmology. There’s omissions and material enough in the available, licensed material to attempt this. The agreement is, however, that the second film must be relevant and emotionally strong enough to be brought to life but that we must try and contain the HOBBIT in a single film.”

* They’re currently working on a Blu-ray version of all three Lord of the Rings films, but it won’t be out this year.

* No plans are being made to shoot the two films in 3D … yet.

Pearlman has a great voice for the legendary gold hoarding dragon, and think it fitting that Guillermo is bringing a favorite of his on board the cast. I fuckin’ love dragons and am pumped to see what kind of beast they are able to create for this film.

Howard Shore did a great job scoring the previous LOTR films, and although it’s no surprise to see him back – I’m glad to hear the news that he’s been locked down. Having the same composer for all of the films will create a thread of sound that ties the series together.

Of the above snippets, I am most interested in the film that will serve as a connector from the Hobbit to the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Using fragments of Tolkien’s work and artistic license, they will attempt to craft their own story in another man’s world. I am not opposed to this, I believe in the ability of these gentlemen and think it will be an enjoyable film; but if a mistake is to made in the series – it will be here.

International Friends; what are your thoughts on the above news items?

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14 thoughts on “Peter Jackson and Guillermo Del Toro Dish About Middle Earth

  1. @ DJJ: Del Toro will most certainly right the ship, at least get it to land closer to the right spot. I feel like he has better results when he takes chances and has the freedom like with Hellboy.

    Though, does anyone know what Peter Jackson is like in the producer role with something this huge? I’m just curious, I have no idea. I just figured he’d be on the set constantly, checking the shots and trying hard not to yell CUT.

    btw, this is Guillermo Del Toro’s calendar:

    -Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008)
    -The Hobbit (2010)
    -Untitled The Lord of the Rings prequel (2011)

    Possible future projects:

    -3993 (2009)
    -At the Mountains of Madness (2010) (announced)
    -Doctor Strange (TBD)
    -Saturn and the End of Days

    …that’s a busy dude.

  2. I just found this bit weird…

    “Ron Perlman will return; most likely not as the voice of Smaug.”

    Return from what? He wasn’t in any of the LOTR movies.

    That said, I’m feeling better now about the undeniable fact that Peter Jackson won’t be directing it. It seems the Hobbit is in good… very good hands with Guillermo.

  3. Three years? THREE YEARS? What am i gonna do with myself for three fucking years? Live a prosperous life? Aquire wealth and treasures? Find the love of my life? It’s like Jackson is challenging us to see how many of us can achieve that by the time ‘The Hobbit’ comes out. Hell, i’m up for the challenge PJ.

    Ahem, seriously though, i’m so glad Howard Shore will be back.

  4. From reading over the transcript it sounded pretty positive. I was hoping that there would be a strong continuity in style and characters between the LoTR and the Hobbit. It would have been unfortunate to deviate too much from the trilogy since they created such a rich and accurate feeling world.

    I am worried about the second film though. There is material to work from but there will be a lot of ad libbing so to speak. The problem with this is that the weakest parts of LoTR were always when they tried to deviate from the written work. So I worry about too much freedom. Perhaps Del Toro will be able to right the ship where Jackson could not.

  5. Most of the questions had already been decided upon by submissions before hand. It did get kind of chaotic for awhile though. Both were very forthcoming witht he answers they were able to give and seemed very receptive to fans concerns. They both seem to really want to get along together to make these movies as great as the first three. I also like the fact that Peter mentioned that he might get behind the camera a little bit himself to help out since he believe they will need multiple crews working at once like they did on LOTR’s. All in all, it was very exciting. Also, another great thing is that they WILL go to the original cast members first to portray roles they originated in LOTR. For the 2nd movie, if they can’t get them, they will try to wework the script so it doesn’t include them. If that isn’t possible based on storyline, THEN they will recast, but they really would prefer the original back. That pretty much made my day, then and there. Also, they mentioned trying to keep the same look (though more innocent) for the movies as LOTR. Del Toro mentioned rebuilding Hobbitonas it was in the movie and expanding on it, not just redoing it in his own image. Also mentioned was a reimagioning of the Wargs for these movies and well as the Goblins too. More too fit with the book then what was portrayed in LOTR. This can be good as long as it is done right.

    Overall, I just can’t wait for this to come out.

  6. I was in for the chat. Really looking forward to this. As long as they don’t deviate too much from the extablished information, more power to them to create another story. I bet though that it will involve The White Council Storyline.

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