It’s been three months since the trades reported Guillermo Del Toro was in talks to direct The Hobbit (as two separate films). So why has it taken this long for the deal to be set in stone? Over at The Movie Blog, John thinks some of it had to do with Del Toro wanting to make sure he would have enough creative control, considering he’ll be working for producer Peter Jackson.
How much control will Guillermo del Toro have? I’ll be willing to bet this was one of the big issues delaying the official announcement of his agreeing to direct the projects. Peter Jackson helmed The Lord of the Rings… will he allow del Toro (a better director over all in my opinion… although both are insanely gifted) the freedom to make these films as he sees fit with modestly limited interference? Clearly del Toro should listen to the studio and to Jackson in particular… but these are HIS movies now, not Jacksons, and for the most part he needs to be the man in charge now. Will they let that happen?
As I mentioned back in January, I wonder if Del Toro’s prequels will be too stylized to fit in with Jackson’s LOTR franchise. It made sense to me that Jackson should have some overruling control if Del Toro wants to make the films all his own: “No way would anybody permit for Del Toro to do his own thing with Gollum or any other part of the franchise so that it would be unrecognizable to moviegoers. But then why not just hire some new, more malleable director to be Jackson’s Matt Reeves/James McTeague/Tobe Hooper?”
One of the comments left on John’s post, however, argues that it had more to do with Del Toro’s four picture deal at Universal. Since the filmmaker will be spending the next four years in New Zealand making the two Hobbit films — for MGM and New Line Cinema — it had to be a concern for Universal that it won’t be getting anything out of the guy for a long time.
Personally, I think they wanted to announce the thing closer to the release date of Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Of course, that reasoning is mostly only beneficial to Universal, as the comic movie sequel should receive more mainstream prestige by its ability to be associated with LOTR. Still, last weekend, at the NY Comic-Con, Del Toro was talking about the Hobbit movies and saying the deal could be announced in a few day’s time (he was correct). Interestingly enough, he even commented on how his personal touch would definitely be visible in the films, though he also said the second film would be able to transition into the first LOTR film seamlessly. Check out IGN’s interview with Del Toro below for more:
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