Guillermo del Toro Directs Hobbit
Peter Jackson Exec. Produces The Lord of the Rings Prequels
Guillermo Del Toro will direct The Hobbit and one further prequel to Peter Jackson's hugely successful trilogy of Lord of the Rings films.
After months of speculation, it has finally been announced that award winning film-maker Guillermo Del Toro (Pans Labrynth, Hellboy) will direct the eagerly awaited prequels to the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
New Line Cinema has confirmed that two prequel films will be made. The first will be an adaptation of The Hobbit, the hugely popular novel about Bilbo Baggins and his discovery of the Ring that J.R.R. Tolkien published seventeen years before the Lord of the Rings books debuted. The second film will be of an original story that takes place during the sixty or so year’s gap between the end of The Hobbit and the beginning of The Fellowship of the Ring.
Del Toro is expected to move to New Zealand to begin work on the prequels as soon as he has finished work on Hellboy II: The Golden Army and production on the films is expected to take around four years, giving the films expected release dates of 2011 and 2012.
Del Toro is Master of Fantasy
Peter Jackson’s adaptations of the Lord of the Rings trilogy grossed roughly $3 billion and have a massive worldwide fan following.
With films such as Pan’s Labyrinth and The Devil’s Backbone, Del Toro has proved himself to be a master of the fantasy genre and the initial rumour’s that he would be stepping into Peter Jackson’s shoes for The Hobbit have been greeted warmly by fans of the Lord of the Rings films.
Peter Jackson and his wife and fellow executive producer Fran Walsh have issued a statement saying that they “have long admired Guillermo’s work and cannot think of a more inspired film-maker to take the journey back to Middle Earth”.
Del Toro himself is a bit fan of the Lord of the Rings films and has commented that “contributing to the Lord of the Rings legacy is a dream come true”.
Jackson, Fran Walsh & Boyens Expected to Write Screenplays
Peter Jackson has confirmed that he and Fran Walsh will continue to be involved in the project as executive producers. Although there is no script as yet and no writer has been confirmed, it is expected that Jackson and Walsh, along with their regular writing partner Phillippa Boyens, are expected to be involved in the scripting process.
New Zealand will once again be doubling for Middle Earth while Jackson’s Weta Workshop will be handing special effects again.
The have been no casting announcements for either film yet but there is speculation that Sir Ian McKellen will be reprising his role as Gandalf. McKellen has previously been quoted as saying “I would be disappointed if they didn’t want to have the original Gandalf”.
