Did anyone say Hobbit?
Posted on 12/18/2007 8:50:25 AM PST by Abathar
I see two big possibilities -- after being rescued by the eagles after fleeing the orcs, or after the dwarves are captured by the Mirkwood elves. (BTW: Legolas cameo? In the books he's the son of the king of the Mirkwood/Greenwood elves...)
Well, there are fewer and fewer of us left on the right coast...
bump
Neither are we!
If it's in summer, the Rockies would be nice.
I’m guessing Jackson will be calling the shots and directing. I’m surprised they worked it out, but I guess they all decided it had to happen, and better now than later. Hopefully WETA will do the effects.
HA! This is The Silver Lining to the Godless Compass fiasco! New Line is desperate to recoup their losses!
Hey, whatever it takes to get Peter Jackson back on board, I’ll take it!
Viggo is a left-wing nut alright. But what do expect from a guy who grew up in Denmark and Argentina? A left-wing nut!
Hollywood Insider spoke with MGM CEO Harry Sloan about the details.
EW: You must be delighted that this project is finally moving forward.
HARRY SLOAN: Ecstatic. It’s a great day for MGM and New Line, and to have two Hobbit movies with Peter Jackson, really, I couldn’t imagine anything better happening around Christmastime this year.
Can you talk about how this came together? Did this just happen overnight or the last few days?
Well, you know, nothing happens overnight. MGM has always said, and taken a firm position, that we want Peter to be involved, and we have to compliment and be very gratified that [New Line’s Bob Shaye and Michael Lyne] and Peter were able to put their differences aside for the good of these movies. We saw that take place over the last six months. I wouldn’t say it was instant by any means.
Have Peter Jackson and New Line resolved the lawsuit?
Yes, they have. That was part of it, because it wouldn’t have been a good atmosphere.
Peter Jackson did say all along that he didn’t want to go into a new deal without having settled the lawsuit.
And, of course, it added a level of complexity to putting the whole deal together. But I think the most important thing was for the participants, for Peter and Bob and Michael, to first get talking and start focusing on what great work they had accomplished together. That began to build a bridge toward cooperation on resolving the lawsuit and, of course, making a deal for Peter to oversee these two movies out of the Hobbit property.
Can you tease us with who might be in line to direct? Guillermo Del Toro, Sam Raimi...
Well, those are the names that have been mentioned and they’re both top directors, excellent directors. It’s Peter’s project. Peter and Bob Shaye are going to oversee it creatively but in the end ... our choice had always been Peter. But if after he and Fran [Walsh, Jackson’s wife] and whoever they work with develop the script, if Peter feels comfortable and Bob feels comfortable with another director, then there will be another director.
Is there any chance that Peter could direct the Hobbit sequel?
Well, he could direct either of them.
He’s been busy with The Lovely Bones, so has it been a scheduling thing?
Well, he’s got Lovely Bones, he’s got Tin Tin, he’s got two or three projects, but it is the right time for him to devote his intentions to developing the property and the script with himself and Fran and maybe other writers as well. And once the property is developed and there’s a picture that’s ready to go, he may consider directing it — although the second film might be more likely due to scheduling.
Does Peter have the right to refuse a director for this one, or script approval?
Neither us nor New Line would want to hire a director that Peter was not completely comfortable with. Remember it’s Peter’s project, he’s overseeing it. So I don’t want to tell you what’s legally in the contract.... But we wouldn’t do that.
This must be a good time for New Line to land this project, given that Golden Compass hasn’t done well. Did that play any sort of a role in getting this to come through at this point in time?
They can speak for themselves. But from my point of view, I’d say no because I think we were well on our way to having The Hobbit set to be developed and go into production long before Golden Compass opened.
Well, I’m sure they’re happy now. It’s good timing.
Look, any time perhaps the world’s greatest franchise has the opportunity to live on is good timing. That’s how we feel. We’re blessed every time we get another James Bond movie up and running.
With those two franchises, how challenging is it going to be with the writers’ strike, if it continues to go on into the New Year, and there’s also the SAG negotiations next year.
We start shooting the new James Bond movie Jan. 7, and we’ll be done before [a potential] actors’ strike, so it won’t affect James Bond. As far as The Hobbit, yes, it’s going to have an affect because we need the strike to get settled. We’ve got Peter Jackson, which is the biggest point here, but now Peter and the other writers who will be involved can’t write. So we’ve got to get this strike settled.
Any word on who would star in The Hobbit, or any expectations? I know a lot of the previous LOTR actors who would be able to have a role in The Hobbit have said that they would only be on board if Peter Jackson was.
Yeah, I think Peter stayed in touch. I think Peter’s been in touch over time with the other actors and is close with them and they’re close with him, so I think we’d be hopeful that some would reappear.
http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2007/12/mgm-ceo-on-the.html
I definitely hope there’s a Legolas cameo, that would just be awesome, and it would fit just fine without haing to twist the story or anything.
Yes, I think that is what is so repulsive about the guy. He is a walking cliche of the left.
Did anyone say Hobbit?
Middle Earth BUMPS!!!!!!
This should be interesting.
Could be Hobbit-forming.
As a Tolkien fan, I have mixed feelings about Jackson’s adaptation of LOTR. It was good, but I wasn’t thrilled with some of his omissions and changes to the story. Having read many of JRRT’s published letters in which he lambastes things like poor translations and illustrations that were inconsistent with his vision, I think that the author would likely have hated Jackson’s films.
They’ll ruin it. With comic book movies it is hard to ruin anything, but with books without pictures an image can never be what the reader had in mind.
A decimal point was probably nudged to the right a bit.
Mark
Thanks; that’s good news indeed.
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