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Peter Jackson Negotiating to Direct The Hobbit

Briefly: Here you go, fans: be happy. THR is reporting that Peter Jackson is negotiating a deal to direct the two halves of The Hobbit himself.

He’s talking to Warner Bros., MGM and New Line right now, and Deadline says that he’s been busy extracting himself from other obligations. What does that do to Tintin? Deadline also says that Jackson directing has been a primary factor in getting MGM to schedule The Hobbit to shoot at the end of this year. I.e., without Jackson would the films not happen at all? Is that why he might direct now when he’d previously proclaimed total disinterest in the job? That’s probably a moot question at this point, though hopefully he’s not essentially being strong-armed into making these movies. Wouldn’t bode well for the films.

More on this as it filters out. There’s probably no one who can make these films quite like Jackson, but I would rather have seen Guillermo del Toro or someone like Sam Raimi direct. After the mess that was The Lovely Bones, Jackson might need a small movie or two to refresh himself, and this project definitely won’t provide that. I’d hate to see him totally burned out by making The Hobbit.

Read more: /Film | Blogging the Reel World http://www.slashfilm.com/page/2/#ixzz0s7WPK0ez

Hobbit Stein: Need it

Guillermo del Toro Offers Updates on His Many Budding Projects, Still Doesn’t Announce Next Film Read more: Guillermo del Toro Offers Updates on His

Ever since Guillermo del Toro walked away from The Hobbit (which is now going to be directed by Peter Jackson) the question has been: what will he direct next? The man has no shortage of projects to choose from, having announced or been attached to a load of options over the past couple years. He appeared at the Saturn Awards and talked about nearly everything from At the Mountains of Madness to Frankenstein, though he stopped short of announcing what film he’ll actually make next.

Collider and Sci-Fi Wire both talked to the director, and got quite a few small updates on a number of films he’s been linked to in the past few years.

First up, and possibly the most disappointing, is At the Mountains of Madness, the H.P. Lovecraft adaptation that has been a dream project for GdT. Sounds like that’s not going to happen any time soon, as he’s still not in a position to convince a studio to pull the trigger.

I would love to be doing ‘Mountains Of Madness,’ but still, even now, it’s very difficult for the studios to take the step of an R-rated, tentpole movie, with a tough ending, no love story.

More possible are Frankenstein and Hellboy III, though not as his next film.

I’m presenting the storylines [for Frankenstein] to Universal, but the screenplay’s not ready. Hellboy III is the same, so if we went into Hellboy, it would need to be the next movie after this one or whatever, but I don’t know yet.

Design work has been done on Frankenstein, and Doug Jones, who played Pan and the Pale Man in Pan’s Labyrinth and the Silver Surfer in the second Fantastic Four film, is currently the choice for the lead.

And what of his next film? “I want to be, if possible, shooting in May next year…So I need something that is ready to go into preproduction immediately.” Three different scripts are in the running to be his next film, and we should hear something (as promised) at Comic Con.

The film he most wants to do actually started as an idea fifteen years ago, but that he couldn’t crack at the time. ” I wanted to do it 15 years ago. We started, we couldn’t do it, it went completely into a beautiful roundabout way and came back to me.”

And lest you think that his time on The Hobbit was time wasted, del Toro says that he learned a lot working on the scripts with Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens. “There were many, many questions that were asked or process that the screenplay was put through that was absolutely new for me,” and hopefully we’ll see the fruits of those lessons in his next feature.

Collider’s video interview with del Toro is rather long — it’s embedded below in case you’ve got time to kill and want to check out the whole thing.

via /flim

The Hobbit.. so sad

Someone probably saw this coming, after his frustrated-sounding comments the other day (with respect to MGM’s troubles slowing down the films) but it is still a shock to see that Guillermo del Toro is no longer directing The Hobbit for producer Peter Jackson.

del Toro announced his departure via long-running LotR fansite The One Ring, and you can read his comments after the break.

The short version is that, thanks to MGM’s financial troubles, getting the Hobbit film(s) into motion has taken a lot longer than expected, and the production isn’t expected to be able to go forward any time soon. Guillermo del Toro already has loads of other directorial projects queued up to follow The Hobbit, and with the protracted, uncertain schedule, there is less and less time to make those other movies.

Sounds like del Toro, not the speediest filmmaker in the first place, is fed up with waiting to move forward, and wants to get back to actually making movies.

(I wonder, too, if the Miramax troubles which have affected Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, the remake he produced and wrote, have also contributed to his impatience.)

So GdT is out of the director’s chair, but will continue to collaborate with Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens on the Hobbit screenplays until they are finished. Meanwhile, a new director will be sought. After my disappointment with The Lovely Bones, I half hope that Jackson will step in and do these himself. If anyone is going to make these films, he’s probably the best choice, but I’m not sure if it would be a creative rejuvenation or an act of resignation for him to do so.

Here’s the statement from Guillermo del Toro:

In light of ongoing delays in the setting of a start date for filming “The Hobbit,” I am faced with the hardest decision of my life. After nearly two years of living, breathing and designing a world as rich as Tolkien’s Middle Earth, I must, with great regret, take leave from helming these wonderful pictures. I remain grateful to Peter, Fran and Philippa Boyens, New Line and Warner Brothers and to all my crew in New Zealand. I’ve been privileged to work in one of the greatest countries on earth with some of the best people ever in our craft and my life will be forever changed. The blessings have been plenty, but the mounting pressures of conflicting schedules have overwhelmed the time slot originally allocated for the project. Both as a co-writer and as a director, I wish the production nothing but the very best of luck and I will be first in line to see the finished product. I remain an ally to it and its makers, present and future, and fully support a smooth transition to a new director.

Peter Jackson, meanwhile, says,

We feel very sad to see Guillermo leave the Hobbit, but he has kept us fully in the loop and we understand how the protracted development time on these two films, due to reasons beyond anyone’s control – has compromised his commitment to other long term projects…The bottom line is that Guillermo just didn’t feel he could commit six years to living in New Zealand, exclusively making these films, when his original commitment was for three years. Guillermo is one of the most remarkable creative spirits I’ve ever encountered and it has been a complete joy working with him. Guillermo’s strong vision is engrained [sic] into the scripts and designs of these two films, which are extremely fortunate to be blessed with his creative DNA.

Guillermo is co-writing the Hobbit screenplays with Philippa Boyens, Fran Walsh and myself, and happily our writing partnership will continue for several more months, until the scripts are fine tuned and polished…New Line and Warner Bros will sit down with us this week, to ensure a smooth and uneventful transition, as we secure a new director for the Hobbit. We do not anticipate any delay or disruption to ongoing pre-production work

Read more: Guillermo del Toro No Longer Directing The Hobbit, Will Still Co-Write Screenplays | /Film http://www.slashfilm.com/2010/05/30/guillermo-del-toro-no-longer-directing-the-hobbit-will-still-co-write-screenplays/#ixzz0pcEoXXHV