Can Guillermo Del Toro Conquer Middle Earth
Written by ady on April 25, 2008 – 3:06 pm -
So now its official I can stop wondering who will be directing and start worrying if Del Toro will be able to do The Hobbit movies justice?
Lets remember that by the time the first Hobbit movie is released it could well be the most eagerly awaited movie ever made.
At first look he seems the perfect choice to replace Peter Jackson at the helm. They both love the fantasy genre and both have similar backgrounds but the facts are that Del Toro to date has done 2 big budget movies in Blade 2 and Hellboy and neither could be classed a major success.
Sam Raimi has a couple of blockbusters under his belt and must surely have been the choice of the money men but the cost of getting Jackson back on board included giving him the final decision on who he would be handing over his precious to.
The word is Hellboy 2 is Del Toro’s best work yet and is sure to come under massive scrutiny from Tolkien fans worldwide who may well be seeing his work for the first time. Also the critics will be viewing the movie (perhaps unfairly) with an eye towards The Hobbit.
I really enjoyed Pans Labyrinth and thought he did a brilliant job on what was probably a limited budget. I think what stood out the most about the movie was how he managed to make the underworld seem almost natural or at least not unusual. He kept the story rooted in the real world without becoming obsessed and abusing the fantasy and the movie built my anxiety levels because of it.
But is Del Toro’s dark style going to work with the light heartedness that comes from The Hobbit being written as a bed time story for the authors young children? Will they be true to the book or bring it more in line with the Lord Of The Rings? Del Toro has already stated he will be stamping the movies with his own style. He’s also stated that he couldn’t finish The Fellowship of the Ring book yet he wants the second Hobbit movie to seemlessly join the end of the first to the beginning of The Fellowship. How does all this fit in with Jackson’s vision of completing Tolkien’s work?
Hobbit part 2 could be where they let their imaginations run wild and as Jackson showed towards the end of the Rings trilogy, he’s not afraid to do just that. With plenty of gaps to fill in he will find himself with the perfect excuse as no matter what he does with those gaps he cannot hope to keep all the Middle Earth scholars happy.
Personally I’m happy Del Toro has got the job as he’s probably the best man available and was Jackson’s personal choice.
Posted in Guillermo Del Toro |
April 25th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Tolkien often pointed out that real fairy stories are not sweetness and light and that real children don’t like them that way anyway.
One of the things that struck me about Pan’s Labyrinth was the recognition that the world of fairy tales is, like our world, a place of tremendous beauty and danger. I think it is a work of which Prof. Tolkien would have approved wholeheartedly. Perhaps that is what Peter Jackson was thinking of when he chose Del Toro: that he needed a director who could tell a fairy tale the way that Tolkien conceived of such things.
April 25th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
Let’s remember… Peter Jackson did not really have any “major successes” or “blockbusters” either, when he was chosen to direct the first three films.
Also, a darker, more ‘Lord of the Rings’ type of tone would not necessarily be outside the will of Tolkien. He did after all try to rewrite the Hobbit after it was published, to bring it more in line stylistically, tonally, and linearly with LOTR.
April 29th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
i cant wait to see this movie but if it is no good i will be mad lol del torro better do good on this!
April 29th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
This has nothing to do with this, but I’d like to know how Peter Jackson lost so much weight, can anyone tell me?
April 29th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
lol!
May 1st, 2008 at 1:59 am
So help me god, if del torro does not do make the hobbit movie with the same loving care, true to Tolkien spirit, and true to the Middle Earth that the amazing Peter Jackson created, I will forever LOATHE him as a director and boycott all of his movies and burn my copy of Pan’s Labyrinth!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
May 3rd, 2008 at 2:39 am
To say Hellboy wasnt a success is unfair, It has a huge cult following and as a director he did an amazing job adapting the comic to the silver screen. Pans labyrinth is a fantastic movie, and frankly I hope there is a dark spin on the hobbit, I never found it to be as cheery and go lucky as some. The last thing we want is a director to come in and make this movie with the goal of making a blockbuster (for children), no artist should think “what do the people want” he should be making art; after all who knew they liked the LOTR books untill they were written. Leave the artist to his work and hope for the best.
May 10th, 2008 at 9:45 pm
“Peter Jackson was thinking of when he chose Del Toro: that he needed a director who could tell a fairy tale the way that Tolkien conceived of such things.”
Right, Pan’s Labyrinth not even in the same realm as the Hobbit and the Hobbit was never meant to be as dark as the Lord Of the Rings.
Spoke with a friend this morning and his comment was that he thought Pan’s Labryinth was good, but he never, ever watch it again unless he was feeling really depressed and need something help depress him som more.
Not exactly what I would be looking for in the Hobbit and to tell you the the Hellboy stuff is in the same realm as Pan’s Labyrinth with respect to dark attitude.
Sidenote: Pan’s Labryinth is not a fairytale by any stretch of the imagination, it’s got fairy looking things in it but that’s about it.