Like everyone else, my jaw dropped when I read the news Sunday that Guillermo del Toro had walked away from Middle Earth.
I had heard chatter in recent weeks that implied that the filmmaker was growing increasingly frustrated with delays in New Zealand — forget the finish line, the filming of “The Hobbit” hadn’t even made it to the starting line yet — but I didn’t see this coming, not after Del Toro put in two years of pre-production work.
I sent Del Toro an e-mail last night with one question: What’s next for you? The short reply came back just a few hours ago: “TBD very soon! –G”
The 45-year-old writer-director-producer is notorious in Hollywood for piling his career plate high. Any time you sit down with him, he talks about more than a dozen different projects as if each was at the very top of his to-do list. Last year, I wrote a cover story in the Los Angeles Times Calendar section about Del Toro’s dizzying ambitions — he wanted to make “Drood,” a new Frankenstein film, an adaptation of “Slaughterhouse-Five,“ and of course, there was his old obsession with putting H.P. Lovecaft’s “At the Mountains of Madness” on the silver screen. A few months after that story ran, Del Toro announced a deal for a new production company called Disney Double Dare You. He also has “The Strain,” his trilogy of novels, now underway.
Clearly, this is a creator who is so restless — and so enthused about his current career access to quality projects — that he wants to cram as much as possible into his calendar. So you can imagine how he simmered as his interpretation of “The Hobbit” remained a prisoner of the pages of his screenplay instead of becoming an epic on its way to the editing room.
The problem has been money, specifically the dire situation at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the storied movie studio that has been pinned down by $3.7 billion in debt and a chaotic reorganization that has seen the balance of power tilt away from management and toward lenders with little or no Hollywood experience. The MGM crisis is the reason that plans for another James Bond film were put on the shelf a few months ago, but many people assumed that “The Hobbit” would be different since MGM wasn’t the sole financing power behind the “The Hobbit.”
That was not the case, as was made clear in Del Toro’s comments during a press conference last week that veered into “Hobbit” territory even though the central topic was ”Splice,” a new film that Del Toro produced: “We have been caught in a very tangled negotiation. Now I have been on the project for nearly two years. We have designed all the creatures, the sets, the wardrobe, animatics and planned action sequences, and we are very, very prepared for when it is finally triggered. We don’t know anything until the MGM situation is resolved.”
Peter Jackson, the executive producer of ”The Hobbit” films, chased those comments and tried to assure fans that the plan to deliver a two-film adaptation of the classic stories was not in jeopardy. It’s interesting to read between the lines and guess whether there was mounting tension between Jackson and Del Toro. Maybe it doesn’t matter after Sunday, when Del Toro dropped the bombshell on the One Ring, the official website for fans of the J.R.R. Tolkien books and their film adaptations.
“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”, says Guillermo. “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. I remain grateful to Peter, Fran and Philippa Boyens, New Line and Warner Brothers and to all my crew in New Zealand. I’ve been privileged to work in one of the greatest countries on earth with some of the best people ever in our craft and my life will be forever changed. The blessings have been plenty, but the mounting pressures of conflicting schedules have overwhelmed the time slot originally allocated for the project. Both as a co-writer and as a director, I wish the production nothing but the very best of luck and I will be first in line to see the finished product. I remain an ally to it and its makers, present and future, and fully support a smooth transition to a new director.”
Random thought: I wonder if it’s a coincidence that James McAvoy, considered a likely choice for Bilbo Baggins, just signed on to star in “X-Men: First Class“ — I wouldn’t be surprised if he made that move after a conversation with Del Toro about the trajectory of things down in New Zealand.
Now come all the other questions. Where does Del Toro go next? Will Jackson, the Oscar-winning director of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, step in as director? If not, who else would be willing to accept all of Del Toro’s locked-in pre-production work, MGM’s financial uncertainty and Jackson’s sometimes-intimidating presence to work on films that might never feel like their own? And the big question: Will these movies actually reach theaters in 2012 and 2013 as planned?
– Geoff Boucher
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PHOTO: Top, Guillermo del Toro (AP)
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I think he could make a great new Tarzan film. Maybe in the style of Frank Frazetta.
This project just died. Even if and when these films ever get made, they will pale by comparison to what they would have been with Guillermo, the perfect choice, at the helm. Congrats MGM for destroying what promised to be so amazing with your greed and mis-management. Can't blame you Guillermo, you have already spent so much of your time on this project with no green light in sight. You must go on to your other projects and I look forward to those. I can only hope now that Peter Jackson will direct the Hobbit films. If not, I might be interested in Cuaron(sp?) the HP3 director but I'm having a hard time being interested in these films now that the amazing GDT is no longer at the helm. It would have been so great. Now……? sigh
I agree with @JimmyBoy in that this project is no longer worth holding my breath for. del Toro would have made this movie FANTASTIC! I just cannot believe this…I honestly do not think that Peter Jackson can do a better job; he can come close–but not better.
Del Toro was a perfect choice for making this film.
We hatesss it…forever!!!!! Boycott MGM!!!!
Yep my heart sank when I heard this. Del Toro is a genius perfect for this. It may have been his masterpiece. I agree with AIDYsPostry, I don't think Jackson can do a better job.
If the financiers really wanna be tight wads they could get someone in who could do it cheap like Eastwood, Rodriquez or Stallone. These three could probly knock out each film for 30mil a pop.
If Del toro and Jackson already set everything up all you need is someone to pull the trigger. OK so maybe My 3 replacements are not suitable for this genre or film but atleast we get to see the Hobit.
Sorry to say, but this just got interesting for me. I'm not a fan of GDT's visual style to movies. The suits and animatronics are very gawdy sometimes…. I did like Pan's labrynth, though.
Ssssoooooo…uummm, Hellboy 3? Please?
If you liked Pan's Labyrinth you would have loved GDT's Hobbit, of that you can be assured. I don't think folks realize what has been lost. Both PJ and GDT loved the books and "get it" when it comes to the material. I'd rather see this project not happen than to put Joe the director in front of the camera just to put something on the big screen for the masses to munch popcorn to. Yes, there is a chance someone else might do a pretty good job but I don't like the odds.
Yeah, Jackson couldn't do a better job… He just has a gazillion oscars in his pocket for the previous 3 films he made..which were absolutely horrible. I mean who could like that stuff. Obviously incompetent.
K, all sarcasm aside Del Toro is a decent director, but to say Jackson could not do this project as well is foolishness. If that's what he decides, it's fairly obvious he did not want the reins to start with. I just hope if they do pick another director it's none of the Hollywood bigshots who have been destroying good projects as of late.
I don't think it's fair to say that Peter wouldn't live up to the expectations we have about these movies. I am a huge del Toro fan, and still I have very much in mind the fact that it was Peter Jackson (with his unparalleled love for Tolkien's work) who brought us LOTR. And no one can say those aren't magnificent movies.
I originally had my heart set on The Hobbit because of both reasons: a) I love Del Toro's work, b) I love Tolkien's. It was indeed a match made in Heaven, to have these two guys working together on this book.
I sincerely hope this project isn't dead, but that they will sort it out and bring to us this wonderful story. If the next director decides to respect the two years work Guillermo did, then we'll have a very interesting product, because it will have sprung from the collaboration of very brilliant minds. If not, well, then we'll just have to see what a new director can offer us.
I've got no problem with Del Toro leaving The Hobbit. Pan's was very compeling, but I think Del Toro's style is too dark for The Hobbit. Perhaps he could have done LOTR, but The Hobbit is a much more light-hearted story. Obviously Peter needs to step in and do this film(s). He may not have wanted to at first, but I always thought it was strange that he didn't want to do it. Maybe Viggo can direct? And the Harry Potter 3/Children of men director could be a good choice as well… HP3 was the best one so far. (CoM was fairly dark but he proved he can do light-hearted with HP3). That's all I gotta say.
I can't believe nobody has mentioned Neill Blomkamp (with PJ closely supervising).
Someone needs to start a boycott or petition of some kind to get Guillermo back on this project. It would be a horrible shame if he didn't do it. He is the perfect person to direct it.
Though I am saddened by del Toro's departure from The Hobbit and think that he would have been a wonderful match (his tinge of darkness would have been beneficial to the project!), his leave has breathed new life into a dream of mine. I would LOVE to see del Toro's film adaptation of Stephen King's Dark Tower series, rather than Ron Howard. The Dark Tower would be a GREAT place for del Toro's darkness to shine.
HOLY SCHMOOZES! @Jeff you are right! Stephen King's TDT would be a fantastic fit for Del Toro! *salivating* Me likie
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