Los Angeles (E! Online) – The two movies based on the Lord of the Rings prequel, The Hobbit, may be a long ways off—hang on until 2011 and 2012, nerds!—but they’re pretty much all Mexican director Guillermo del Toro gets to talk about these days. Sure, he’s out promoting this summer’s comic book flick Hellboy II: The Golden Army, but, like, what’s up with Bilbo Baggins and Gandalf and that dragon?
We got the big scoop from del Toro himself at the Saturn Awards, where he received a lifetime achievement award. Here’s what he told us about The Hobbit’s casting, creatures and story:
First of all, expect some crazy new creatures. If you’ve seen Hellboy or his epic Pan’s Labyrinth, you know del Toro would go beyond Orcs and talking trees. He promises to respect J.R.R. Tolkien’s and Peter Jackson’s creations, but sees many more new ones. “I plan to bring myself to The Hobbit,” he said. “No doubt about that.” Hobbit Director del Toro Talks Cast, Creatures
Last week Guillermo Del Toro was on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ to promote ‘Hellboy II: The Golden Army’. Jimmy and GDT touched a little on The Hobbit, and despite my desperate attempts to get him to give a ‘shout out’ to TORN, it didn’t happen. Another interesting bit of news is that GDT plans on releasing a book filled with his sketches, notes and ideas from all his films..sound like a great idea! Take a look at the YouTubeed version of the interview here. 
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Liv Tyler turns 31 today and Marton Csokas’ birthday was yesterday; he turned 42. Liv, who has been acting in films since the early 90s, graced the screen as Arwen in all three Lord of the Rings movies. Her latest role was that of Betty Ross in The Incredible Hulk which opened in U.S. theaters on June 13. Marton, who played the lord of Lothlorien, Celeborn, in The Fellowship of the Ring, has enjoyed a long and successful film career in New Zealand and internationally and was last seen in Romulus my Father, released in Australia in 2007. Many happy returns to both of these fine actors!