So Sad: Del Toro Quits 'Hobbit'

After the enormous success of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy of films, a two-part prequel, The Hobbit, was slated to be directed by acclaimed director Guillermo Del Toro. Known for his very artistic and quite eerie style, Del Toro is one of my favorite filmmakers, having directed the classics Pan's Labyrinth, Hellboy, and The Devil's Backbone.

That is why it is with great sadness that I report that Guillermo Del Toro has pulled out of directing The Hobbit. In a statement given by Del Toro, he stated that:

"In light of ongoing delays in the setting of a start date for filming 'The Hobbit,' I am faced with the hardest decision of my life. After nearly two years of living, breathing and designing a world as rich as Tolkien's Middle Earth, I must, with great regret, take leave from helming these wonderful pictures."

It is true that the films have not been greenlit by the studios yet, meaning that financing and pre-production logistics could take quite some time. I can see why Del Toro is hesitant to be apart of a movie that is so unpredictable, because his plate is pretty full at the moment--in the next few years alone he has The Orphanage, Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Witches, Pinocchio, Champions, and numerous other projects that he's occupied with. If I had that many film projects to keep track of, I'd do my best to stay clear of unpredictability.

It is a real shame that such a visual and unique director won't be apart of a film adaptation for one of the most beloved stories of all-time. I was really looking forward to seeing how he would interpret Tolkien's genius work. Oh well, hopefully producer Peter Jackson will be able to dig up someone just as creative, or, better yet, just direct the thing himself. After all, he did a perfectly fine job with The Lord of the Rings.

Source: Variety

Read More...

Toy Story = Lord of the Rings?

In a new post on Jim Hill Media, Jim talks about the creative process that went into the creation of Pixar's upcoming, sure-to-be masterpiece Toy Story 3. The article discusses the retreat taken by John Lasseter, Pete Docter, Andrew Stanton, and Jeff Pigeon at a seaside chalet in Marin County to work on the story for the final chapter of Buzz and Woody's saga.

It also talks about the work that went into the script by Little Miss Sunshine's Michael Arndt, the effect that computer advancements have had on the production of TS3, as well as some funny quotes, such as one by Lee Unkrich when he refers to John Lasseter's passion for the Toy Story films: “ … we’re grateful to John Lasseter for lending us his shiny sports car. Hopefully we’ve brought it back without any scratches or dings.”

And the article also analyzes the following quote by director Lee Unkrich:

That just like with the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, there's this continuous flow of story from film to film to film. That that the story we’re telling this time around doesn’t feel artificial. That it feels like it came organically out of the first two ‘Toy Stories’.

Makes sense. I love the Lord of the Rings trilogy. That must bee why I love Toy Story so much. Perhaps vice versa...

Anyways, the article is short, sweet, and very interesting.

Read it at Jim Hill Media here.

Read More...

Walt Disney's 'Lord of the Rings'

Here is a pretty funny fan-made picture of what Walt Disney's Lord of the Rings would look like.

In fact, there are plenty of rumors surrounding the fact that he did at one point own the rights to Tolkein's classic series of novels, but obviously never did anything with them. This was presumably due to their somewhat dark subject matter and the fact that it would have been very difficult for Disney to make them his usual "family-friendly" Disney film.

This fan-made mock-up features Merlin as Gandalf, Grumpy as Gimli, Peter Pan as Legolas and Pinocchio as Frodo. Very, very cool.

I wish that Walt had made a Lord of the Rings movie, even if he did cast it similar to the above photo...

Source: Cinematical

Read More...