Guillermo
del Toro has left The Hobbit
movies. As a director at least. This was reported first on TheOneRing.net.
The man has been sequestered in New
Zealand already for a massive chunk of time writing and prepping the two
movies with Peter Jackson and all the while his myriad projects are
announced or wallow in uncertainty.
No more, says Guillermo. Though his
passion is as strong as passion can be, Guillermo is no longer adrift in
a sea of studio uncertainty and a commitment that began at three years
and has evolved into six years, a number too great to sacrifice for the
grueling though rewarding Tolkien stories.
Life’s too short. And fragile.
This
actually pleases me greatly, for this means we get more work from the
man over the next few years. As good as his Hobbit films would have
been, I believe original work of his trumps them. He casts a huge shadow
of his own, and there’s a thought that at the end of the day he’d still
have to exist under the great ones of Mr. Jackson and Mr. Tolkien.
Personally,
I’d love to see him blot out the tall lanky one of Howard Phillips
Lovecraft with the definitive movie of his career.
But I’ll settle for one of the many
great things bursting from that head of his. He’s one of the great
creators we have and one of the best people I know. A talent like his
can’t lie in stasis for too long. It’s unfair to him and unfair to his
fans.
And
frankly, I know there are things he needs to be close to on this side
of the world that are much more important than hairy-toed dumpling men.
All
the details of the departure are here, but as someone in one of outer
rings of his hemisphere of friends I see this as a healthy and positive
decision. The Hobbit doesn’t need a Guillermo del Toro to be a delight.
But there are are many things Guillermo has that are uniquely his own
that require his grace. And we need a chance to see them!
29 comments
Creature from The Black Lagoon sounds good now
At the Mountains of Madness is one of the movies I most greatly want to see.
I'm totally ok with this as well, although I was very much looking forward to him helming these. More personal GdT projects will ultimately benefit us more.
Right on… I don't want to see del Toro tied up for years on these things. I want Hellboy 3. I want At the Mountains of Madness. I want more original stuff, like Devil's Backbone and Pan's Labyrinth. I reckon someone like Gore Verbinski would be ideal for The Hobbit – he's got the visual chops for a production of this scale, and I think the Pirates sequels failed on a script level, not a directorial one.
I guess this is a good thing. Since MGM can't even get a friggin James Bond movie made, the Hobbit movies are a long long way off
what a great level headed nice little article. awesome.
Well, Jackson is sitting right there and after Bones and the high risk that is TinTin, he kinda needs a big score. GDT was on a Lovecraft doco last night – maybe he'll get to those mountains after all.
remind me why jackson isnt just going to direct these movies? after lovely bones he could use a sure fire hit or two. hire someone to do the producer leg work, and get behind the camera pete.
I've honestly never been a huge fan of Guillermo. But you know what? Fuck Tolkien. He can do better than that.
I agree with MrRekshun 100%, BUT there will always be the "what if" factor, especially if the flicks are released to "MEH" levels.
For me, this is good news as well. Tolkien is not really my bag and to have Guillermo gone that long was gonna be hard to swallow. I'm glad he'll be able to focus more on his own stuff, especially the Strain series.
GDT on The Hobbit would have been too much or not enough anyway. He is much better served with original material. PJ is at best a mediocre director. Thats why he has passed the reigns.
Did you really just imply that Del Toro's creative shadow is greater than Lovecrafts? Blech …
I wonder if Peter Jackson is free for this. Or is he still gonna do Tintin?
At the Mountains of Madness has hardly any action. It would have to be changed a lot to be a marketable movie… And then it would always be perceived as a knock off of John Carpenter's "The Thing"
Please more original ideas from GdT.
Well, glad to see that justice is served. GDT would`ve been perfect for Deathly Hallows and when he was offered to shoot the movies and said was interested, fans were really supportive and happy. But he opted for more Oscary project even though he said he was a huge fan of Potter and not so much of Tolkien. And LOTR fandom always wanted Jackson to take over so it was a no-win for him. Plus, I doubt that he had much creative freedom on Jackson`s territory and that his script ideas overweighted Jackson/Walsh/Boyens combo.
I too would personally like to see Del Toro get to make his masterpiece "At the Mountains of Madness." With him at the helm and the possibility of WETA doing effects, it has the potential to be one of the greatest horror films ever put to film. Del Toro is a genius and I have enjoyed all of him movies. I've now officially written off the Hobbit as dead in the water now.
good, now jackson can direct it instead of getting an animatronic wankfest for devin to wank over. "Hey Look! I'm not CGI!"
Hate the idea of Del Toro doing Lovecraft. Lovecraft is all about mood and Del Toro is all about showing off. Sure, Devils Backbone had atmosphere to spare, but it was still about blatantly showing off ghostie fx. Most Lovecraft stories call for whatever the subject of dread to be barely shown at all, you know, things so horrible they can barely be comprehended. Del Toro is the opposite of that.
At the Mountain's of Madness.
One day I´m goind to read that chud article talking about movies that never were and "At the Mountains of Madness" is going to be amond them.
It will be a really sad day.
Great news. Bring on "Hellboy 3" and "At The Mountains of Madness" please!
"Del Toro is leaving. As someone who knows him, I think this is a good move. He needs to do original work…like adapting Lovecraft. Which is something I know as his friend. And knowing him the way that I do I can cryptically refer to private issues he is dealing with which will of course not be of any illumination to you, the reader, since I don't plan on saying anything about it. But what's important is, it demonstrates that I know Guillermo Del Toro." And shock of shocks, Devin is sucking Scott Pilgrim's ass because he "knows" Edgar Wright. Now I know how to make my movie beloved on Chud: just walk over to the film-geek lunch table and talk to them like they matter.
THANK GOD. I am a massive Lord of the Rings and I never wanted to see a Del Toroed Hobbit. I don't like his movies. That said, somebody's got to make a Cthulhu someday and it might as well be him.
If he left this to do an original film a la Devil's Backbone and Pan's Labyrinth, I think this is a great decision. If he's doing Hellboy 3 next… Ugh, total mistake, in my opinion.
That fat ass better get to work on Hellboy 3, pronto.
Strange news. Del Toro's movies look like they were directed by Stephen Sommers if he'd been born talented, a sort of fake, plastic artifice. His writing is terrible too. However, I could have seen his style fitting into the Peter Jackson LOTR continuity very well. I wonder if this is going to throw the film off for even longer.
As long as this doesn't get turned over to the likes of Joe Johnston I'm not too disappointed by this news. I was looking forward to seeing Guillermo handle the second film and all the new material it was sure to contain (dealing with the Necromancer and such) but I think Jackson is more than a big enough to talent to handle this himself and anyone who thinks Del Toro's vision would've been all the more superior is a bit out of touch. Honestly talent wise they're pretty much on an even level playing field.
I have no doubt that Jackson won't find it very difficult to give The Hobbit the lighter touch it needs compared to the other films, he covered the feel quite well for the first hour of FOTR. Hope he steps back up to the plate as director.
Comments are shown as archived from the original site; new comments are closed.