Movie News (7/2/2008): Our friends over at The Movie Blog have some notes from Guillermo Del Toro on how he envisions “The Hobbit.” In his notes, he discusses the look of the creatures, how family-friendly it will be, and more…
“First of all, expect some crazy new creatures. If you’ve seen Hellboy or his epic Pan’s Labyrinth, you know del Toro would go beyond Orcs and talking trees. He promises to respect J.R.R. Tolkien’s and Peter Jackson’s creations, but sees many more new ones. “I plan to bring myself to The Hobbit,” he said. “No doubt about that.”
And even though The Hobbit was Tolkien’s tot-sized adventure, the film version will not be The Lord of the Rings for Kids. “Tolkien had, in the last third of the book—I wouldn’t say an edge, but had a somber tone that normally would not conjure the term ‘family.’”
“We’ll cast whoever seems to fit the pages,” del Toro said. Wannabe Hobbits may have to chase him down to New Zealand, though, where he’ll be spending much of the rest of the year, checking in with the creature designs and the Middle Earth set.
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Yes, I’ll go see it. Yes, it’ll probably be the midnight showing. But, I hope, please o please don’t ruin the Hobbit! Please keep Tolkien’s integrity!!!
Man, I couldn’t agree more. I so hope he keeps to the storyline and also that he respects what Peter Jackson has already done, not that he copies the style exactly, but that he doesn’t turn it into “Pan’s Hellboyish Hobbit.”
Even Jackson took some artiistic license in LOTR, changing some scens and leaving out certain characters. That is understandable adapting a book to film. The Hobbit as abook is less ambitious and undertaking than LOTR, and it should be easier to be faithful to the story as laid out by Tolkien. I hope Del Toro doesn’t get too caught up in bringing himself to the Hobbit, there are enough characters in the story already.