Recently, TheOneRing.net featured an essay on the challenges and opportunities faced by Guillermo del Toro and WETA workshops in brining the Magnificent Smaug to movie screens in the upcoming Hobbit film. The fan-friendly director has long been open to fans and can be found posting at DelToroFilms.com”. Del Toro, or “GDT” as he is affectionately already known on the TORn message boards, responded to the thread, giving a healthy discussion an extra shot of energy. Read the rest of this entry »
Stories of dragons are as old as the written word and probably a lot older. To keep things inside the J.R.R. Tolkien realm, “Beowulf”, one of the oldest written stories of Europe features not only the monstrous Grendel but his serpentine Mother. Ancient biblical writings allude to the great serpent or dragon while global mythology has oversized lizard creatures popping up so consistently that some have suggested there must be some common shared memory or primitive survival instinct built into humanity to cause us to tell our tribal stories about such a monstrosity. Read the rest of this entry »
Ringer Spy Elven was kind enough to transcribe the ‘To be Continued’ interview from last week where I discussed our exclusive chat with ‘Hobbit’ director Guillermo del Toro. Take a look! Read the rest of this entry »
The Grey Pilgrim sent MTV’s interview with Guillermo del Toro our way where the communicative director had yet more to say about some “Hobbit” movies he is working on. The MTV writer Shawn Adler (with reporting by Josh Horowitz) is one of the few mainstream writers that knows that Middle-earth has a lowercase “earth” and like our own Xoanon asks some questions with real background knowledge. I think I detect a Tolkien fan. Anyway, addressing several of the same issues that have been discussed on our own forums such as GDT’s feelings about high fantasy and casting, we give you MTV. Click Here.
During our recent interview with ‘The Hobbit’ director Guillermo del Toro, he mentioned that Andy Serkis was ‘all but confirmed’ to be returning as Gollum. Well Andy Serkis has gone one step further by adding a new listing to his film work. ‘THE HOBBIT - Director: Guillermo del Toro - Role: Gollum’ has been spotted on Serkis.com! Take a look for yourself!
Compa_Mighty sends this along: Nothing new, actually, but I thought it might be cool for everyone to know that Del Toro’s riddle posted at TORN and the Hellboy message boards was featured on Variety. It’s nice to get that kind of coverage! Del Toro’s TORN Poetry in Variety
In an exclusive interview with TheOneRing.net, Guillermo del Toro talks about Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis, Howard Shore, Animatronics vs CGI, the ‘tone’ of the upcoming ‘Hobbit’ films and much more!
We had the opportunity to chat with Guillermo del Toro this morning from his current HQ in London. He’s hard at work putting the finishing touches on ‘Hellboy II: The Golden Army’ and taking interviews from news outlets about that film, and the recent announcement that he’ll be doing ‘The Hobbit’ and a subsequent Hobbit sequel down the line.
First things first, YES, that is him on our message boards, he told me he intends to post there as often as he humanly can. And yes, he is as cool and approachable as he sounds. Take a look at my interview! Read the rest of this entry »
In a major step forward on “The Hobbit,” Guillermo del Toro has signed on to direct the New Line-MGM tentpole and its sequel.
The widely expected announcement came Thursday afternoon jointly from exec producers Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, New Line president Toby Emmerich and Mary Parent, the newly named chief of MGM’s Worldwide Motion Picture Group.
Del Toro’s moving to New Zealand for the next four years to work with Jackson and his Wingnut and WETA production teams. He’ll direct the two films back to back, with the sequel which will deal with the 60-year period between “The Hobbit” and “The Fellowship of the Ring,” the first of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy.
New Line is overseeing development and will manage production. Both pics are being co-produced and co-financed by New Line Cinema and MGM, with Warner Bros. distributing domestically and MGM handling international.
From Stuff.co.nz: [Full Story] (Image above courtesy of Stuff.co.nz)
The official announcement was made in Hollywood by Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson - who will co-produce The Hobbit - fellow producer Fran Walsh, and executives from New Line Cinema and MGM.
Jackson and Walsh said del Toro was “a genuine storyteller” of outstanding ability.
“A true original, Guillermo is a cinematic magician who has never lost his child-like sense of wonder. He understands that the fantastic must be grounded in the real and that all stories are only ever a reflection of ourselves,” say Jackson and Walsh.
“We have long admired Guillermo’s work and cannot think of a more inspired filmmaker to take the journey back to Middle-earth. We are delighted ‘The Hobbit’ is in such trustworthy hands.”
Don’t know what to do with yourself? Jump into the forums or into Barliman’s chatroom to talk with Tolkien fans throughout the world! [Forum] [Barlimans Chat]
Ed Gross at voicesfromkrypton.com managed a great Guillermo del Toro interview from last weekend’s New York Comic-Con. Mr. del Toro elaborates in much greater detail than ever before (at least on the record) why he was attracted to ‘The Hobbit’ in the first place and explains his vision for how his two films will transition into the Jackson’s trilogy. He says, “we are creating a beautiful overture”. Can you guess what the two scenes he hopes to film he called,”two of the greatest experiences of my life”? The audio is less edited and more telling than anything we have heard so far. Take a listen at VoicesFromKrypton. Dial up users be patient and let the picture of GDT with a Hobbit over his shoulder load, then click the play button. If anybody feels up to transcribing the several minutes of audio feel free to send it to Spymaster@TheOneRing.net