Just look what I found out! The Hobbit will be in good hands! For those who could never seem to get into the Hobbit (I am not one of them...) you will finally see that it is indeed a great book! Oh, and if you have not seen delToro's "Pan's Labyrinth", then rent it now and you will see why Jackson picked him to direct the Hobbit. And mark this! They mention sequels! I think that sequels drawn from the histories of the Lord of the Rings would make great film!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080820/film_nm/hobbit_dc_1
Jackson and del Toro to pen "Hobbit" screenplays.
Wed Aug 20, 4:53 AM ET
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro's search for writers for "The Hobbit" and its companion film has ended, with the filmmakers deciding that no one is better suited for the task than they are.
Del Toro ("Hellboy," "Pan's Labyrinth"), who is directing the movies, will team with the "Lord of the Rings" filmmaker and "Hobbit" executive producer Jackson to adapt the J.R.R. Tolkien book and write its follow-up. Also joining them in the writers' room are Frank Walsh and Philippa Boyens, both of whom collaborated with Jackson on the "Rings" trilogy.
The news caps an eight-month search for a scribe to adapt the literary classic to the big screen.
"Hobbit," written by Tolkien for his children years before the "Rings" trilogy, follows a young Bilbo Baggins, who finds his comfortable life turned upside down when the wizard Gandalf takes him on a journey for a hoard of treasure that involves trolls, humans, Gollum and his ring of invisibility and a dragon named Smaug.
After Jackson and New Line resolved their differences over profit participation in the "Rings" films, Jackson said he would not write the scripts for the "Hobbit" movies because of other commitments. But in his role as executive producer, he does have approval over creative elements of the productions.
After del Toro came aboard the project, the two began a search for writers. Three factors came into play:
* The filmmakers saw their schedules open up.
* During the general discussions about the films, they realized how much affection they had for the material.
* They also realized that in order to make the targeted release dates, the process required people intimate with Tolkien's world of Middle Earth.
Considering all this, they chose to handle the writing honors themselves, along with Walsh and Boyens.
"Hobbit" and its sequel are being co-produced, co-financed and co-distributed by New Line and MGM, with New Line managing production and handling domestic distribution through Warner Bros., and MGM distributing internationally.
The films will be shot simultaneously, with principal photography tentatively set for a late-2009 start. New Line and MGM hope to release "Hobbit" in 2011 and its sequel the following year.
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
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2 comments:
I had to read The Hobbit once, in junior high English. I have tried three times since then and cannot get thru the first chapter (it's currently sitting on my coffee table, bookmark unmoved for three months). I just can't stand this book. It's written as if a grandfather is telling a bedtime story, and I really hate that style. Give me a movie!
I will give you that! I think it will be a good movie and probably enjoyed more by people who couldn't handle the book. But in defence of the book, it was written by an older man who was writing for his young son. So you impression is basically correct. Never mind that it was written while he was slogging around in France during WWI!
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