It has been well documented that Guillermo del Toro will approach the original The Lord of the Rings cast to reprise their roles in Middle-earth should the script call for it. News comes today from the MTV Movie Blog that one such actor, John Noble, won’t be available:
“If they said, ‘Would you come and play Denethor again,’” Noble said, “I would have to say, ‘No, I’m doing [new J.J. Abrams television series] ‘Fringe’! And I certainly couldn’t play a younger Denethor or even Ecthelion now that I’m an older John. Not even with makeup.”
For the full story, jump on over to the MTV Movie Blog. [Read More]
Del Toro said, “I am very excited, very nervous. It is very daunting. I think it is a responsibility. It is like being handed the keys to the nuclear button.”
Del Toro also talks more about how he’ll work with Peter Jackson and will continue to respect the LOTR world that has already been created. There’s also a video interview attached to the site. ITN Limited
Martin sends along this link to an audio interview with RDT, take a listen: Jason Solomons talks to upcoming British actor Thomas Turgoose about his role in the new Shane Meadows film Somers Town and Xan Brooks quizzes Guillermo Del Toro on Hellboy II and his new project The Hobbit. Film Weekly Chats up Guillermo Del Toro
Ambrose Heron of FILMdetail.com recently spoke with Guillermo del Toro about Hellboy II and they also discussed some interesting tidbits about the writing of the ‘Hobbit’ script:
I seem to have a never ending mine of reading material. I started by reading everything I could get my hands on that Tolkien wrote of Middle-earth. And then I started reading as many books as I can about Tolkien writing about Middle-earth. I want to get as familiar with the cosmology and the genealogy and the geography of that place as possible. Because for many, myself included, it has to become a real place again.
August 20th, 2008 by Calisuri
| Source: Variety
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‘Frodo Franchise‘ author, Kristin Thompson, points us to Variety.com today with further official word that our favorite scribes have all signed on the dotted line, so to speak:
Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens have officially signed on to collaborate on “The Hobbit” and its sequel with director Guillermo del Toro. The announcement, from exec producers Jackson and Walsh and New Line president Toby Emmerich, came four months after del Toro confirmed he had signed on to direct both pics.
Read the full article at Variety.com and strap on your seatbelts - the funs is just getting started! [Variety.com]
It’s now official: The Lord of the Rings screenwriting team of Peter Jackson (pictured), Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens will join The Hobbit director Guillermo del Toro to pen the screenplay for the two planned Hobbit movies. Sources tell EW.com that the scribes’ deals are all complete and they will commence writing shortly. (With shooting scheduled to begin in Fall 2009 in New Zealand, the quartet better get busy!) The Hobbit will center on Frodo’s uncle, Bilbo Baggins, and his initial discovery of the immensely-powerful ring. New Line and MGM plan to release the two films Christmas 2011 and Christmas 2012.
Post your comments on the TORN Forum - it’s an exciting day for Hobbit fans! Thanks again to ringer Deej for posting this on our boards. EW.Com
Some news on the funding behind the upcoming ‘Hobbit’ films from Bloomberg.com:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., the movie studio controlled by private-equity firms, is raising as much as $600 million to produce some of its biggest films including “The Hobbit.” [...] MGM’s would be the first movie fund completed since Deutsche Bank AG and Viacom Inc.’s Paramount Pictures scrapped plans last month to raise $450 million. The MGM fund includes “The Hobbit,” being produced by “Lord of the Rings” director Peter Jackson [...] ”The Hobbit,” being directed by Guillermo del Toro, is scheduled for release in December 2011. Jackson’s three “Lord of the Rings” movies, distributed by New York-based Time Warner, each cost about $95 million to make, according to Imdb.com.
Thanks to Diedye for the heads up on the article and click on the link to read the full story. [Bloomberg]
August 19th, 2008 by Calisuri
| Source: IGN
| Discuss
There is a great article posted at IGN today that summarizes what we already knew about Guillermo del Toro’s intention to use more animatronics in the creation of the ‘Hobbit’ films. But Ringer Elven points out one small bit of information of which we did not have previous confirmation:
We naturally enquired if he planned on continuing with a CG Gollum: “Absolutely. I think that it worked perfectly on the [Lord of the Rings] trilogy and if it ain’t broke, why fix it?”
Gotta love the ‘Why fix it?’ attitude! Read the full article and discuss in our forums! [IGN]
TheOneRing.net’s Larry Curtis recently chatted with our pal Sohaib on ‘Fictional Frontiers with Sohaib,’ on WNJC 1360 AM, Philadelphia. Take a gander at the transcript below (thoughtfully written down by Elven once again), Larry and Sohaib chat about the DragonCon 2008 Hobbit panel and much more! Read the rest of this entry »
“Ive just got home from an early screening of Hellboy II The Golden Army hosted by PopcornTaxi at the Greater Union Cinema in Sydney, where Guillermo did a telephone Q & A from Berlin after the film…The last question though related to the Hobbit - and Guillermo said that although there was nothing to add at the moment - he can say that scripting has started - and he described the process as something ‘beautiful.‘”
Discuss this exciting news in our message board where news hits fast and furious! [Message Boards]