Guillermo del Toro Talks to Dragons

Since Guillermo del Toro dropped Pan’s Labyrinth on us in ‘O6, everyone has been dying to work with him… and have him adapt the classics closest to their heart? With his increasingly questionable adaptations of the beloved characters of the Hellboy characters, how will Hobbit fan’s fare if he takes their little Frodo where they don’t want to follow? Del Toro recently attended the New Yorker Festival in Manhattan, and spoke with Daniel Zalewski, from The New Yorker on the topic of inspiration, dragon dialogue, and WWI. Coming Soon was there and published their highlights.

It seems that Del Toro will not be boning up on classic fantasy flicks like Willow, Legend or Labyrinth to prepare for the production of The Hobbit. He claims, “I wouldn’t be watching Krull, or The Dark Crystal, I need to find my own way into the story. That’s the same way I did Pan’s Labyrinth or Devil’s Backbone, by watching stuff you wouldn’t think about.” OK, so… he’s making sure to not be inspired by fantasy flicks with puppets in them? That seems to be good news.

So, where is he deriving his inspiration from? He explains that he is “reading or watching World War I documentaries or books that I think inform The Hobbit, strangely enough, because I believe it is a book born out of Tolkien's generation's experience with World War I and the disappointment of being in that field and seeing all those values kind of collapse. I think it's a turning point that you need to familiarize yourself with.” Thanks for the heavy handed suggestion, del Toro. I just hope we don’t see the effects of WWI in his interpretation of the Shire!

Although his basis for inspiration sounds dangerously un-fun, it seems we can all agree on something: Dragons are awesome and should have as much dialogue as possible. Del Toro says, “[All] my life I've been fascinated by dragons. I was born under the Chinese sign of The Dragon. All my life I'm collecting dragons. It's such a powerful symbol, and in the context of The Hobbit it is used to cast its shadow through the entire narrative. Essentially, Smaug represents so many things: greed, pride… he's 'the Magnificent,' after all. The way his shadow is cast in the narrative you cannot then show it and have it be one thing, he has to be the embodiment of all those things. He's one of the few dragons that will have enormous scenes with lines. He has some of the most beautiful dialogues in those scenes!” With his amazing interpretations of mythical creatures, I have no doubt his interpretation of Smaug will be nothing short of breathtaking.

With Peter Jackson winning Oscars and stuff for his versions of the same character that The Hobbit is based on, Del Toro most certainly has some shoes to fill, and an unusually large fan base to answer to. Few directors have been able to achieve the level of critical acclaim and fan approval that Jackson achieved with his LOTR trilogy. But it seems that del Toro is not here to re-create the LOTR ‘verse. He claims, “There will be different sensibilities involved in this movie than there were in the original trilogy. First of all, because we have the travelogues in The Hobbit which goes to places and variations on races that were not addressed in the trilogy.” I think we can all agree that Del Toro knows how to make a race of fantasy folk, as evidenced in his artful interpretation of the fawn in Pan’s Labyrinth and the Golden Army in Hellboy 2.

When asked about more specific races, like the ‘Wargs,’ Del Toro had this to say: “My belief on the 'Wargs' issue is that the classical incarnation of the demonic wolf in Nordic mythology is not a hyena-shaped creature. It is a wolf. The archetype is a wolf, so we're going to go back to the slender, archetypical wolf that is, I think, the inspiration for Tolkien.” He would not give any more details, joking that “Warner Brothers has a sniper right here at the theater!”

With The Hobbit becoming more and more concrete, LOTR fans will definitely be able to start looking forward to something. Whether they love or hate Tolkien adaptations, The Hobbit is happening! It seems that Del Toro, himself, is psyched: "Believe me, I am jumping up-and-down inside this fat body!"

Del Toro also has some other delectable sounding projects cooking in his Spanish sizzler: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, an adaptation of Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness, a novel-style vampire trilogy, and a very modern interpretation of Frankenstein.

Guillermo del Toro Has Ideas For How To Waste A Day



It sounds like all the time Guillermo del Toro has been spending with Peter Jackson has had its effect. Del toro, when discussing The Hobbit, is sounding a lot like Jackson did when talking about his three Lord of the Rings movies-- a good thing for anyone hoping for two movies as narratively consistent as LOTR, which should be pretty much all of us. Del Toro spoke to MTV News about the two Hobbit, and suggested that one day it will be possible to consider his two films and Jackson's three as one, continuous movie.

"We all agree that if we do our job right, it should all feel like a continuous journey. That’s what we’re striving for. If we do our job right, you put in The Hobbit and you wind up watching the entire Pentology!” Does del Toro really think so little of us that he thinks we have nothing to do than to spend about 15 hours watching five movies? And how did he find out how he spends my Saturday?

Del Toro is still mum on details about the second movie, which bridges the gap in story between The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring, and will presumably involve a lot of hobbits dancing merrily in the Shire. We don't even know when the first movie will leave off, or how closely it will follow the events of the book; all del Toro is saying is “I think Smaug dies in the first movie. So draw your own conclusions.”

Del Toro is a doll to make himself open to reporter questions so frequently, especially when the questions can be really inane, really specific ones from Tolkien fanatics. And it's impressive that we're usually satisfied with whatever answers he gives, even when they're as vague as these. Shouldn't there come a point where we can leave the guy alone, and leave him to mess around with models of dragons and finally cast Bilbo?

Del Toro Talks Even More Hobbit Details



Guillermo del Toro, being the mensch that he is, went back online this week (hey, it’s not a holiday week in Mexico) to talk more details about The Hobbit. Of course, there aren’t many details left to share at this point—filming doesn’t begin until 2010, and they haven’t even figured out the shortlist for Bilbo yet. But the conversation at BilboHobbit.com contains a few small tidbits that at least the diehard del Toro and Hobbit fans will enjoy.

First of all, he promises lots of creatures and puppets on the scale of the ones in Hellboy 2, focusing on some of the creatures who barely showed up in Lord of the Rings. ”We will be pushing the goblin kingdom. We will be pushing Smaug, the Spiders of Mirkwood. We will be pushing them to the edge of technology where we will fuse animatronics and CGI into a seamless new art form in creating creatures.” Sounds cool, but who will be helping him pull it off? None other than several of his Hellboy creators, if del Toro has his way. “[Mike] Mignola [creator of Hellboy and writer of the movies], [Wayne] Barlowe [visual designer], Spectral Motion, Guillermo Navarro [cinematographer] and others…”

Del Toro’s most exciting promises, as usual, come on the visual effects front. “You will see some mind-boggling mixture of CGI / Puppetry like never before. The demarcation of where one technique ends and the other begins will NOT be as clean as in HBII or BLADE II or PAN’S LABYRINTH. I am going to push further than ever on both fronts.” At this point we’re all just ready for del Toro to stop making promises and make the movie already, but hey, these things take time. At least he’s continuing to keep the fans posted, and hey, we might be learning about Bilbo soon!

Who Will Be Moving From Music Biopics to Del Toro’s The Hobbit?



Two of the only three members of The Hobbit’s cast that I think we can so far bank on (the third being Ian McKellen) are set to make appearances in two separate music biopics before hand.

Firstly, Andy Serkis is to play Ian Dury in a film of the Blockhead’s life. He said “I’m actually doing a film in April about the life of Ian Dury, who’s a proto-punk rocker in the 1970s. He’s an amazing character, a real poet. He sort of came up out of the British pub rock scene. He sort of pre-empted the Sex Pistols and the whole punk movement. And he was a polio sufferer, so he basically didn’t have much use of his left leg or his left arm.”

This is perfect casting. If you don’t believe me, check out video of Ian Drury performing.



As I understand it, Michael Winterbottom collaborator Matt Whitecross will be the director (you may recall Serkis played Martin Hannet in Winterbottom’s 24 Hour Party People).

The second Hobbiter to sign up for a muso-movie is none other than Doug Jones. He’s in the cast of the Serge Gainsbourg biopic. He won’t be playing Gainsbourg himself (Eric Elmosnino will be ), and he hasn’t yet revealed who he will be playing, but he promises that the role will require his characteristic prosthetic make-up. Asking around, I have confirmed that the film is based upon a French comic book series (!) and will feature several supernatural creatures in “fable-like” scenes. These creatures will be handled by Studio DDT, who also worked on Pan’s Labyrinth - hence the Jones connection.

The film will also feature Laetitia Casta as Brigitte Bardot so, gentlemen, start your daydreaming now.

Exclusive: New Empire Hobbit Cover
You wants it...



January is, statistically speaking, the most miserable of months. It’s cold, it’s dark, and Moira Stuart is forever banging on about paying your tax bill by the 31st, or Mr. Taxman will be round to cut off a pound, or three, of flesh.

So here at Empire, we feel it’s our duty to cheer you up – and what better way than by presenting to you our brand new issue, which should be hitting newsagent and supermarket shelves near you any… second… now.

Inside, you’ll find all kinds of cheery tonics, such as our horror overload, featuring Bruce Campbell, Freddy and Jason, the Wolfman’s Emily Blunt, and the Lesbian Vampire Killers, and our lovely look at the individuals who make up the Watchmen.

But pride of place – on our cover and in our hearts – is our big special on The Hobbit. What’s that, you say? It’s not even out for two years? Well, yes, but inside our special feature, you’ll find a one-stop shop of information on the films that may be the most anticipated of the next few years.



Inside, we’ll tell you how the film finally became a reality after years languishing in tangled rights hell; why Peter Jackson stepped aside from directing; what might be contained in the mooted second movie; and just what director Guillermo del Toro has in store for the whole shebang.

Here’s a taster of our exclusive interview with del Toro: “Whatever The Hobbit ends up being, it has to ultimately blend seamlessly into the first movie of the trilogy. We have to respect the cosmology and the canon established by the trilogy and follow it.”

For more from del Toro, and more on The Hobbit, pick up the March issue of Empire – on sale Friday.

Matthew Goode Auditions For Bilbo Baggins



In an interview with the UK Daily Telegraph’s John Preston, actor Matthew Goode commented on some news that would be of great interest to those fans following developments on The Hobbit.  Preston writes:

“Now he’s a father, Goode doesn’t even like travelling that much. But just before we met, he’d auditioned for the role of Bilbo Baggins in Guillermo del Toro’s two-part film of The Hobbit. As he is the first to admit, he’s not an obvious choice – ‘Look at the size of me for Christ’s sake!’ If he got the part, he would, he says, find it almost impossible to refuse – despite the fact that it would involve him spending several months in New Zealand.”

Guillermo del Toro Confirms Hobbit 3D Discussions

I wouldn't read much on it just yet, but now, after all this time, after AVATAR doing the Box Office it did, we have had enquires from above about The Hobbit being in 3-D.

No impositions or heavy leaning. Just enquires. Just fulfilling my promise to let you all know if discussions ever started.

Cheers

GDT

Ian McKellen confirms start date on The Hobbit

THE HOBBIT's, two films, start shooting in New Zealand in July.  Filming will take over a year. Casting in Los Angeles, New York City and London has started.  The script too proceeds.  The first draft is crammed with old and new friends, again on a quest in Middle Earth. 

The director Guillermo del Toro is now living in Wellington, close to the Jacksons' and the studio in Miramar.

'Hobbit' Filming Delayed After Peter Jackson Is Hospitalized

The director is recovering after undergoing surgery for a perforated ulcer in New Zealand.



Filming on The Hobbit has been pushed back a bit after director Peter Jackson was admitted to a New Zealand hospital with acute stomach pains.

Jackson went to to Wellington Hospital on Wednesday night and underwent surgery for a perforated ulcer, according to a statement from the production. He is said to be resting comfortably, and doctors expect him to make a full recovery.

"Sir Peter's surgery is not expected to impact on his directing commitment to The Hobbit beyond a slight delay to the start of filming," according to the statement.

Filming was scheduled to start sometime next month.

It's the latest hurdle for the production, which has suffered previous director Guillermo Del Toro's departure, followed by various labor and financial issues that plagued the studios behind it.