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[subzero9285]

Thought I'd make an all encompassing news thread about The Hobbit films. So, feel free to discuss any topic relevant to the them.

What is the The Hobbit?

The Hobbit is an upcoming two-part film based on the novel of the same name by J. R. R. Tolkien. The film is in development for releases in December 2011 (Part I) and December 2012 (Part II) and will be directed by Guillermo del Toro, with The Lord of the Rings film trilogy director Sir Peter Jackson serving as executive producer and co-writer.

Plot

Local Shire hobbit Bilbo Baggins, uncle of Frodo Baggins, is living a quiet, peaceful life until Gandalf the Grey knocks on his door. A band of wandering dwarves shows up one or two at a time. The goal? To hire poor Bilbo for a quest (as a burglar) that entails defeating a dragon and recovering (burgling) a treasure. Along the way there are adventures with trolls and elves, a battle with goblins, the naming of Bilbo's sword as Sting after a battle with some spiders, escaping from Wargs, and a barrel ride in a river. There is a great battle, The Battle of Five Armies, which includes men, dwarves, elves, goblins with Wargs, and more. Most importantly of all, part of this story leads Bilbo into Riddles in the Dark where he meets Gollum and in the process acquires a peculiar ring that has had and will have a great impact on the future of their world.

Cast

• Cate Blanchett - Galadriel
  
• Ron Perlman -Thorin (rumored)
  
• Hugo Weaving - Elrond (rumored)
  
• Ian McKellen - Gandalf (rumored)
  
• Doug Jones - (rumored)
  
• Andy Serkis - Gollum (rumored)

Other rumored casting choices

• David Tennant
• James McAvoy
• Daniel Radcliffe
• Toby Maguire

Composer

• Howard Shore

Examples of his work

• Concerning Hobbits
• The Bridge Of Khazad Dum
• Breaking Of The Fellowship

Based on

The Hobbit, is a fantasy novel by J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in a time "Between the Dawn of Færie and the Dominion of Men", The Hobbit follows the quest of home-loving Bilbo Baggins to win a share of the treasure guarded by the dragon, Smaug. It was published on September 21, 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the New York Herald Tribune for best juvenile fiction.

Principle characters

Bilbo Baggins, the titular protagonist, a respectable, conservative hobbit. During his adventure, Bilbo often refers to the contents of his larder at home and wishes he had more food. Until he finds the magic ring, he is more baggage than help.

Gandalf, an itinerant wizard who introduces Bilbo to a company of thirteen dwarves. During the journey he disappears on side errands dimly hinted at, only to appear again at key moments in the story.

Thorin Oakenshield, proud, pompous head of the company of dwarves and heir to a dwarven kingdom under the Lonely Mountain. Thorin makes many mistakes in his leadership, relying on Gandalf or Bilbo to get him out of trouble, but he proves himself a mighty warrior.

Smaug, a dragon who long ago pillaged the dwarven kingdom of Thorin's grandfather and sleeps upon the vast treasure.

The plot involves a host of other characters of varying importance, such as the twelve other dwarves of the company; two types of elves: both puckish and more serious warrior types; men; man-eating trolls; evil cave-dwelling goblins; forest-dwelling giant spiders who can speak; immense and heroic eagles who also speak; evil wolves, or Wargs, who are allied with the goblins; Elrond the sage; Gollum, a strange creature inhabiting an underground lake; Beorn, a man who can assume bear form; and Bard the Bowman, a grim but honourable archer of Lake-town.

Previous adaptations

BBC Radio 4 series The Hobbit, this radio drama was an adaptation by Michael Kilgarriff, broadcast in eight parts (four total hours) from September to November 1968. It starred Anthony Jackson as narrator, Paul Daneman as Bilbo and Heron Carvic as Gandalf. The series was released on audio cassette in 1988 and on CD in 1997.

The Hobbit (1977), an animated version of the story produced by Rankin/Bass, debuted as a television movie in the United States in 1977. In 1978, Romeo Muller won a Peabody Award for his teleplay for The Hobbit. The film was also nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, but lost to Star Wars. The adaptation has been called "excruciable" and confusing for those not already familiar with the plot

Watch the film in full here

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8


News - Starting with the latest


Casting begins

Yes, it’s true, casting is now underway on Guillermo del Toro’s two-part adaptation of The Hobbit.

But no, zero big names are confirmed as yet. (Sorry.) Instead, the producers are starting small – hobbit-sized, in fact – as they work from the bottom up to gather the hundreds of extras that will be needed to populate Middle Earth once more.

The New Zealand branch of MGM Studios have officially announced casting, while Jack Machiela, a tour guide for former Lord of the Rings filming locations, has speculated on his blog that principal photography could begin as early as March or April 2011.

Source


Hobbit filming to begin in June

According to Production Weekly’s Twitter feed, J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit is scheduling to begin its 14-month production this June. Guillermo Del Toro is using the same playbook to shoot this 2 part movie back to back. It is expected to last 14 months. Part 1 is slated for December 2011 with the Part 2 coming out a year later in December of 2012 (Hopefully it will be out before the Mayan calendar apocalypse!). The tweet from PW probably means that Warner Bros. has finally allowed the production to go ahead and move beyond the “yellow light” Del Toro mentioned last month.

Source


TheOneRing.net exclusive interview with Ian McKellen

http://www.theonering.net/torwp/201...net-radio-show-ian-mckellen-talks-the-hobbit/

Maguire rumours surface

According to reports Tobey Maguire is in "early stages of talks" to star as Bilbo Baggins in 'The Hobbit'. He apparently has not been offered the role yet though, as again, talks are early. If he gets the role, Maguire would shoot Spider-Man 4 in the first part of 2010 and then shoot The Hobbit in the summer of 2010.

Source


Tennant tipped for Bilbo role

The 38-year-old is tipped to play Bilbo Baggins in the big screen adaptation of JRR Tolkien's book.

The Scottish star leads a list of stars, including James McAvoy and Daniel Radcliffe, vying to play the title role of Bilbo Baggins in "The Hobbit." The film – which may be split in two – is based on Tolkien's children's book prequel to The Lord Of The Rings hit series.

Tennant is due to make his debut appearance at the world's biggest science-fiction and fantasy convention Comic-Con in the US next week.

And Rings director Peter Jackson is also expected to announce his choice for the role when he attends.

Geoff Boucher of the Los Angeles Times, said yesterday: "David Tennant just happens to be making his very first trip to the San Diego expo to promote "Doctor Who," a television series that he will soon be leaving behind. "Peter Jackson, the producer of the two-film "Hobbit" series that begins its theatre run in 2011, is also slated to appear this year, and, well you can see the dot-connecting possibilities. ...

"I think Tennant would be exceptional in the role."

In the Lord of the Rings Trilogy Bilbo Baggins was played by the veteran actor Sir Ian Holm. But in The Hobbit he is a sprightly 50 years old – although hobbits live to be well over 150 years old.

Tennant is currently filming St. Trinian's, The Legend of Fritton's Gold, and will be last seen as the tenth Timelord in a Christmas special.

Several members of the original cast are returning, including Sir Ian McKellen as Gandalf.

And Christopher Lee – who played Saruman – has announced he would like to come back, too.

The 86-year-old said: "I've read the books time and again. Originally Saruman The White and the rest of the wizards, or the Istari as they call them, were immortal.

"When it all started, Saruman was the noblest, the finest, the bravest, the most dependable and reliable of them all, he was number one. But somewhere, somehow, and it was never actually explained, he turns.

"I'd be interested in seeing how that transition from good to evil occurred and, yes, of course I would return to the role if I was asked."

Source


Hobbiton re-building begins

If you’re a fan of “The Lord of the Rings” movies and cannot wait to see Guillermo del Toro’s “The Hobbit” in two years, the news you’re about to read is going to make you very happy.

The re-building of Hobbiton has begun!

Yes, the village where Bilbo Baggins, Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee live has begun being rebuilt for the upcoming movies. So if you’re interested in seeing what work has been done so far, after the jump are two pictures. I’m sure you want to see them!

The news that Bag End and Hobbiton are being rebuilt comes from the great folks at theonering.net. With production gearing up on “The Hobbit”, I think they’re about to be very busy providing us with news and gossip on the production.

Source


Necromancer/Gandalf storyline to feature

There is a whole other chapter, so to speak, which is the comings and going of Gandalf which are dealt with, people that know the lore know that Gandalf was delayed with a crisis… with a character that is very shady called the Necromancer that proves to be Sauron.

Guillermo del Toro


Howard Shore to compose the score

This won't come too big a surprise, as the possibility/probability was referenced by ScoreKeeper in an interview with Howard Shore that was published quite a while back. However, with THE HOBBIT enduring so much flux, nothing seemed certain for a while.

Ian McKellen's recent statements about his intent to return as Gandalf, as well as hints that a few other details of the film are at long last solidifying, suggest this project is finally coming together.One detail concerns Howard Shore & whether or not he'd be back for another round of scoring. Kris sent in the following message, which pretty much speaks for itself.

Hi Harry,

Yesterday evening I was able to go to "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - Score Performed Live to the Epic Motion Picture" in Lucerne in Switzerland.

Composer Howard Shore attended, and participated in a small session on the scoring the music for FOTR.

Towards the end the audience had the opportunity to ask some questions. One person asked about his involvement in THE HOBBIT. Mr. Shore replied that he is involved. Apparently he has been working on ideas since working on the THE TWO TOWERS.

For Mr. Shore it will be the first time he will be working with Guillermo del Toro.

Regards
Kris

Source

Come along, come in!



I'll keep the thread updated as more details are made available, feel free to do the same.

 

[kuYuri]

I didn't realize this movie was going to exist until now.

 

[ascii42]

Hopefully Ian McKellen and Andy Serkis do wind up being in it. I watched a Christopher Lee interview a while back, apparently he said he would voice Smaug if he was offered.

 

[sprsk]

Go Tennant!

 

[Bernbaum]

Yay the Hobbit!

The Hellboy movies were shit, but Pan's Labyrinth gives me high hopes for this.

Really keen to see the casting for the dwarves and how many familiar faces will return from LotR.

Smaug's design may also make or break this film for me.

 

[gdt]

I'd love to see Tennant as Bilbo.

 

[MagicJackBauer]

great OP, bravo.

 

[subzero9285]

I didn't realize this movie was going to exist until now.

You missed quite a bit of news then, although most of the important news is in the OP, so that should get you up-to-date with the latest happenings.

 

[vehn]

Ron perlman as a dwarf would be strange

 

[speedpop]

Can't wait to see it. I think with Guillermo del Toro's flavour that this is going to be more awesome than the LOTR trilogy.

Then again that could just be my own enjoyment of The Hobbit > LOTR novels.

I watched a Christopher Lee interview a while back, apparently he said he would voice Smaug if he was offered.

This would be more than perfect.

 

[subzero9285]

Ron perlman as a dwarf would be strange

He's also been linked to the role of Smaug.

 

[StoOgE]

I really hope Del Toro does his own thing with the art direction here.

Honestly, his movies are all decent films with exceptional art work.

 

[Procarbine]

Exciting!

 

[Joe Shlabotnik]

Ron perlman as a dwarf would be strange

John Rhys-Davies wasn't exactly born to play Gimli, either.

Seems like Part I will be released nearly ten years to the day of Fellowship's release. Granted that's almost two years away, but I can't believe FOTR is that old already.

 

[mjc]

Oh god, David Tennant as Bilbo would be fantastic.

 

[EvilMario]

I really like Tennant, it will be interesting to see him in the role. It's about a thin as a toothpick though, so they'll have to 'fill him out'. :lol

 

[subzero9285]

A recent Q&A by Total Film.

Eighteen months ago, Guillermo del Toro had a 10-year-plan. His life was mapped out, and it had nothing to do with JRR Tolkien’s lovingly rendered cartography of Middle-earth.

“I was calmly laying out the next decade of my life when The Hobbit appeared,” he laughs. “I was preparing all these things and all of a sudden The Hobbit shows up and takes over my life.”

Make no mistake: The Hobbit is his precious. Del Toro knows more than anyone that this diptych could – should – define his career.

And so the director has been busy building a world that not only honours JRR Tolkien’s book and Peter Jackson’s Lord Of The Rings trilogy but will emerge assuredly, triumphantly, his own.

Our very own cuddly character, Jamie Graham, snuggled up to Del Toro at his Wellington base of operations, and talked exclusively about the biggest films of next decade.

It took almost a year. Which for me is very, very long because normally I take about a third of that time to design movies like Hellboy. And if you actually take into account we have three or four times the number of artists… [chuckles].

We produced hundreds, literally hundreds, of drawings; dozens and dozens of maquettes; dozens of material tests. It’s epic. And we are still going to be designing into production…

Q: How did it work with the writing of the script? Presumably you’ve had as much input as Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens?

Many, many months ago we sat down to discuss the structure with 3in by 5in cards and we laid out the two movies.

We were meeting on a daily basis at 9am and we would go at it for hours, into the afternoon. Then in the afternoon I would go to check on design.

Then at one point we split into two teams: I did one pass at things and they did a pass at things; it’s pretty much the way I’m used to co-writing.

But I must say what was great and what made a big difference was the amount of great ideas that I felt were generated in a day – it was staggering.

We could have written three or four versions of The Hobbit [laughs].

Q: You mentioned the structure. Will the book make up the first movie, with the second movie plucked from the appendices and maybe even your imagination? Or will parts of the book be saved for the second movie?

We are respecting the structure established by Professor Tolkien because the order of the adventures in The Hobbit is well known to generations and generations of kids. You don’t want to be moving stuff like that.

But we will be integrating Gandalf’s comings and goings because he does disappear in the book quite often.

So, as opposed to the book, we see where he goes and what happens to him

Q: You and Peter are both visionary filmmakers who will fight for those visions. What happens when you clash?

So far we haven’t come to such a crossroads. We argue and we win at different stages. But I think Peter has been, so far, the perfect producer.

Two filmmakers have produced me in my life, both named Peter. One was Pedro Almodóvar and one is Peter Jackson.

Both times my experience has been that they are perfect producers because they understand the producer is not a producer/director.

A producer is a producer. If there’s an emergency, if everything goes wrong, then the producer can – and should – have a strong opinion.

But while everything is going well, on time, on budget and is creatively solid, there’s no need for that.

Q: Presumably working with Peter is not that much different to working with Mike Mignola on the Hellboy movies?

You nailed it. I’d say Mike is as opinionated as if he was another director because essentially he directs on the page. And Mignola, like Pedro and Peter, knows the process – they all know that at some point you’re going to be alone with the beast [laughs].

You’re going to be the guy and you can only trust your own instincts.

You’re not going to be making a phone call from a remote location to ask a question; you’re going to have to make a decision yourself.

Q: You love creating your creatures and obviously The Hobbit offers some great opportunities. There’s the dragon Smaug, the spiders of Mirkwood, the Wargs, Beorn the bear-man…

The way I phrased it to Weta, I said we would keep the DNA in the same gene pool as the Rings trilogy, but that we would generate a different type of character. For example, in the trilogy most of the creatures are brutish or inarticulate.

In The Hobbit, the creatures speak: Smaug has beautiful lines of dialogue; the Great Goblin has beautiful lines of dialogue; many creatures do. So we had to design them with a different approach because you are not just designing things that are scary.

I also wanted some of the monsters in The Hobbit to be majestic.

I wanted the Wargs to have a certain beauty so that you don't have a massively clear definition: what is beautiful is good and what is ugly is not. Some of the monsters are absolutely gorgeous.

Q: Smaug won’t be like the dragons in Reign Of Fire, say. Was it a big challenge to communicate his character?

I think one of the designs I’m the proudest of is Smaug. Obviously he took the longest.

It’s actually still active: we’re finishing his colour palette and a little bit of the texture. But the bulk of the design took about a year, solid. It’s because of the unique features of the dragon.

Early in production I came up with a very strong idea that would separate Smaug from every other dragon ever made. The problem was implementing that idea. But I think we’ve nailed it.

Q: What about the spiders? How faithful are they to Shelob from Return Of The King?

Well, they are the progeny of Shelob, but Shelob was quite a promiscuous girl [laughs]. She mated with many partners. And insects and spiders are incredibly adaptable creatures. There will be spiders… [Laughs]

That sounds like a Paul Thomas Anderson sequel: There Will Be Spiders! But they are visually quite striking and in a different way to Shelob.

I wish I could tell you more but I would be spoiling it again. They are very different. They are more creatures of the shadow, more creatures of the deep forest. They are not earth nesting. They are nesting in the canopies so physically they have adapted to that environment.

Q: How about the scale of The Hobbit? You’ve done big action sequences in Mimic, the Hellboy movies and Blade II, but you’ve never tackled anything like the climactic Battle of Five Armies…

No – and I think that I’m really quite eager to go and do that. But at the same time there were so many battles in the trilogy. So one of the first things is how do we make the battles or the action in The Hobbit feel different from that?

Because it was fresh when the trilogy came out, to see those enormous valleys or fortresses being invaded by warriors.

But then after the trilogy you had Troy, Narnia, everything. It has become quite common seeing two massive CG armies attacking each other.

So we came up with a good solution, I think. It will make the battles stand out.

Q: Is it going to be more intimate?

I wish I could spoil it! All I can say is that we have an incredibly good team of people who know we are not making another Rings. We are not trying to make a quadrilogy, or a pentilogy. We’re tying to make two films that flow with those but that stand on their own completely.

We want to avoid stuff that is not part of the DNA, that is not part of the lexicon, but we also don’t want people to feel “We’ve seen this”.

Except where that familiarity is comforting, like Hobbiton or Rivendell – then you want to feel like you’re coming back home to a movie that you love and cherish.

Q: Will you be using the same palette as the trilogy, dark and fertile?

I think The Hobbit is a bit more colourful. And a bit more operatic. And whimsical. One of the things the book marks very strongly is the seasons, so we’re using that as the basis of our thought.

Q: Presumably it will also be a bit more magical? Have a stronger fairytale vibe?

It is in many ways just what you enjoy in the book. You enjoy an almost chamber piece, like when the stone trolls talk about cooking the dwarves.

It’s such a small piece but at the same time it’s magical and it’s almost a comedy, that you have these enormous creatures talking about cooking these dwarves!

Q: It wouldn’t be a Guillermo del Toro movie unless it possessed a poetic quality, surely?

There is a lot of magic in the film. Peter has the eye of a strong historian, in the sense that the trilogy is incredibly accurate to a world that was created. He’s like an archaeologist who’s digging something that existed. I think that The Hobbit has a little bit more poetic licence.

It has… How can I say it? It has a little bit more flamboyance.

Link

 

[elrechazado]

do not want toby


unless it's Old Toby pipe weed

 

[squinters]

Super excited for this. I just wish they would start filming sooner, as Ian McKellen is getting up there in years and I can't imagine Gandalf without him.

 

[bengraven]

Was just thinking they're going to have to retcon two things in the next edition of the trilogy were they to choose a younger person to play Bilbo.

1) "you haven't aged a day" - Gandalf
2) obviously the prologue scene with him finding the ring

 

[Amir0x]

Preeeetty sure this is going to be one of my most anticipated movies of all time.

It feels like only yesterday (because it pretty much was!), after what seemed like forever, the movies finally started releasing and they were actually good. When they were gone, it felt like this immense movie experience was gone forever and would never return. I felt like I was leaving Middle Earth forever or some shit. It's some deep internalizing there... flashes to myself at seven years old, curled up in my bed with a flashlight, reading furiously through the entire LOTR trilogy and The Hobbit. There was just something brightened my mind about those. Tolkien, for whatever his faults on telling a compelling narrative, sure could paint a picture. Always a journey.

I imagine this is how people who like Star Wars felt the first time they saw that trilogy. It's the only thing I can relate it to, considering I feel myself become a huge geek/fantard whenever I discuss the movies and books.

I think it's safe to say these Hobbit movies won't face the same fate the Star Wars prequels faced at the very least. What a disappointment that would be..

 

[elrechazado]

Was just thinking they're going to have to retcon two things in the next edition of the trilogy were they to choose a younger person to play Bilbo.

1) "you haven't aged a day" - Gandalf
2) obviously the prologue scene with him finding the ring

on 1, gandalf was talking about since he last saw him, which was well after the events of the hobbit, so no problem there.

 

[bengraven]

Preeeetty sure this is going to be one of my most anticipated movies of all time.

It feels like only yesterday (because it pretty much was!), after what seemed like forever, the movies finally started releasing and they were actually good. When they were gone, it felt like this immense movie experience was gone forever and would never return. I felt like I was leaving Middle Earth forever or some shit. It's some deep internalizing there... flashes to myself at seven years old, curled up in my bed with a flashlight, reading furiously through the entire LOTR trilogy and The Hobbit. There was just something brightened my mind about those. Tolkien, for whatever his faults on telling a compelling narrative, sure could paint a picture. Always a journey.

I imagine this is how people who like Star Wars felt the first time they saw that trilogy. It's the only thing I can relate it to, considering I feel myself become a huge geek/fantard whenever I discuss the movies and books.

I think it's safe to say these Hobbit movies won't face the same fate the Star Wars prequels faced at the very least. What a disappointment that would be..

Two good points:

1) the shock that Fellowship was actually GOOD never left me. I sat in that theater my mouth wide open and when walked into my house that night I told my then fiancee, "It was...it was really really fucking good" She didn't believe me. :lol

2) I missed out on Star Wars, being born in 1979 and never really took me the way it did other people. I would agree, I'm too young for Star Wars and too old for Harry Potter. LOTR is my Star Wars.

 

[bengraven]

on 1, gandalf was talking about since he last saw him, which was well after the events of the hobbit, so no problem there.

It's sketchy. Granted, decades had passed since Bilbo had the ring, but if he didn't age a day in, what was it, 7-10 years?, then I can't imagine him aging too much since finding the ring.

 

[Weenerz]

I have faith in Del Toro, and the fact that in the interview he sounds super excited makes me think it will be a treat.

 

[bengraven]

I have faith in Del Toro, and the fact that in the interview he sounds super excited makes me think it will be a treat.

Same.

 

[BowieZ]

Ron Paul to be cast as Gandalf's brother!

great OP, bravo.

+1

 

[Amir0x]

Two good points:

1) the shock that Fellowship was actually GOOD never left me. I sat in that theater my mouth wide open and when walked into my house that night I told my then fiancee, "It was...it was really really fucking good" She didn't believe me. :lol

2) I missed out on Star Wars, being born in 1979 and never really took me the way it did other people. I would agree, I'm too young for Star Wars and too old for Harry Potter. LOTR is my Star Wars.

My Fellowship of the Ring story is terrible. It's not Fellowship of the Ring's fault, however.

I was still pretty young and stupid and I had taken a very high dose of shrooms before I entered. Now, to cut the long story short, around the time the hobbits encounter the Nazgûl for the first time, I proceed to fucking vomit my goddamn guts out all over the back of this guy's neck in front of me. I hear him jump up yell "WHAT THE FUCK", before I fucking jet out of the movie theatre and out to the parking lot and into my car with my friend Dan.

So my experience with seeing Fellowship of the Ring for the first time was that. I saw it fully two days later, and I had the same reaction you did... "It's...it's good?" It felt like the type of thing that was sure to be destroyed in translation, the victim of some well intentioned modernization or some ill-conceived interpretations. But no, it was fucking brilliant. Still Fellowship of the Ring is the best of the three films, a spectacular visual tour de force, brimming with directorial brilliance and wonderful performances. Truly the best fantasy film ever.

 

[Borgnine]

I'm pretty sure everyone has been calling for Ron Perlman as Beorn and not Thorin.

 

[KevinCow]

I hated the other Del Toro movies I saw, but I loved the Lord of the Rings. So I don't know what to think of this.

I wonder if they're just going to call it them Part 1 and Part 2, or if they'll give them subtitles.

 

[Joe Shlabotnik]

Was just thinking they're going to have to retcon two things in the next edition of the trilogy were they to choose a younger person to play Bilbo.

1) "you haven't aged a day" - Gandalf
2) obviously the prologue scene with him finding the ring

I doubt they are the least bit interested in doing Lucas-style revisions. They're just movies, and are impossible to completely reconcile with each other. And although they are, of course, closely related productions, The Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit are different entities, both the books and the films. The Hobbit was not written with The Lord of the Rings in mind, and there's no need turn them into one grand continuous saga.

The brief glimpses we get of Gollum in FOTR are of a clearly different model from the Serkis-based Gollum in the two following movies, and there hasn't (and won't) be any attempt to "correct" that.

 

[genjiZERO]

I wonder what the real chances of Tennant as Bilbo are. He's not quite old enough to be Bilbo, but I think he'd be an awesome choice.

 

[Lebron]

So this is finally going down? I thought I would never see the day, heh.

Nice OP

 

[DrForester]

Hopefully Ian McKellen and Andy Serkis do wind up being in it. I watched a Christopher Lee interview a while back, apparently he said he would voice Smaug if he was offered.

I still want a complete Christopher Lee commentary track for the Trilogy.

 

[Buckethead]

Please please please no obvious/bullshit casting for Bilbo.

 

[VGChampion]

I'm super excited for this movie. I have more memories around seeing LotR trilogy in theaters than I do for any other movie. I hope this reaches the same level of hype.

 

[Chairman Yang]

I'm not expecting much from this film. The quality of Pan's Labyrinth/Devil's Backbone is far outweighed by the unbelievable crappiness of the rest of del Toro's filmography, especially Hellboy 2.

 

[sprsk]

I'm not expecting much from this film. The quality of Pan's Labyrinth/Devil's Backbone is far outweighed by the unbelievable crappiness of the rest of del Toro's filmography, especially Hellboy 2.

He did a good job (the best imo) with Harry Potter. I'm sure he will give justice to the Hobbit. Especially with Jackson standing behind him.

I won't get excited till I know The Doctor has been cast as Bilbo!

Edit: I will say, though, The Hobbit has a distinctly different tone from the LOTR trilogy, and I hope the movie reflects that.

 

[StoOgE]

It's sketchy. Granted, decades had passed since Bilbo had the ring, but if he didn't age a day in, what was it, 7-10 years?, then I can't imagine him aging too much since finding the ring.

It's a movie.. I mean, they are actors not actual hobbits,.

This kind of "OMG they must have perfect continuity" is the kind of shit that led Lucas to completely fuck over the original Star Wars movies,.

 

[DeathbyVolcano]

He did a good job (the best imo) with Harry Potter. I'm sure he will give justice to the Hobbit. Especially with Jackson standing behind him.

I won't get excited till I know The Doctor has been cast as Bilbo!

Edit: I will say, though, The Hobbit has a distinctly different tone from the LOTR trilogy, and I hope the movie reflects that.

You're thinking of Caurón, not del Toro

 

[StoOgE]

He did a good job (the best imo) with Harry Potter. I'm sure he will give justice to the Hobbit. Especially with Jackson standing behind him.
.

That was Alfonso Cauron.

Cauron is a MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH better director than Del Torro... and I like Del Torro.

 

[sprsk]

That was Alfonso Cauron.

Cauron is a MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH better director than Del Torro... and I like Del Torro.

My bad, I get my Spanishy directors mixed up. And yeah, you're right.

 

[DeathbyVolcano]

That was Alfonso Cauron.

Cauron is a MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH better director than Del Torro... and I like Del Torro.

Eh. Del Toro has a much better artistic direction, I think. They both have a great stylistic approach though.

 

[StoOgE]

My bad, I get my Spanishy directors mixed up. And yeah, you're right.

They are Mexican actually.

I'll never forget the bullshit the year both of them had Oscar nominated films along with Alejandro Innaritu. They pulled them aside and introduced them as "the three amigos" which was a clever was of saying "Look, MEXICANS!"

I'm half surprised they didn't try and dress them up in sombreros and give them a pinata to hit.

Spoiler

they should have let cauron and del torro beat the shit out of innaritu for making boring fucking pointless movies

 

[StoOgE]

Eh. Del Toro has a much better artistic direction, I think. They both have a great stylistic approach though.

For sure. That is pretty much Del Torro's bread and butter. Good movies with the best art direction out there. Hellboy, Hellboy 2 and Blade 2 are all meh to decent movies.. but the brilliant character designs kept me entertained.

Cauron is better with story structure, pacing, theme and getting the most out of his actors. I think he is one of the 3-4 best directors out there. Y Tu Mama Tambein and Children of Men are two of my favorite movies.

 

[Regulus Tera]

Del Toro casting the most popular Doctor of all time as the quintessential Hobbit.

That sounds amazing.

My bad, I get my Spanishy directors mixed up. And yeah, you're right.

They're both Mexican.

 

[Amir0x]

Del Toro is a great visionary kinda guy, which is probably what this movie is going to need more than anything. Of course, I think Devil's Backbone and Pan's Labyrinth are goddamn brilliant.

Plus, as far as sp0rsk saying that he hopes this movie's tone reflects the difference between it and LOTR, I think he can feel fairly safe there. I read in an interview with them, when asked how they were going to handle stuff like Trolls being able to talk, and he said something like 'while obviously we are going to be making some changes, the hobbit reflects a different, more innocent time, and the tone of the movie is going to reflect that.'

 

[sprsk]

Del Toro is a great visionary kinda guy, which is probably what this movie is going to need more than anything. Of course, I think Devil's Backbone and Pan's Labyrinth are goddamn brilliant.

Plus, as far as sp0rsk saying that he hopes this movie's tone reflects the difference between it and LOTR, I think he can feel fairly safe there. I read in an interview with them, when asked how they were going to handle stuff like Trolls being able to talk, and he said something like 'while obviously we are going to be making some changes, the hobbit reflects a different, more innocent time, and the tone of the movie is going to reflect that.'

Really good to hear that.

 

[brandonh83]

Definitely one of my most anticipated films this decade and this decade only got started, but that's how excited I am for this shit. If it's anything like the released trilogy in tone/atmosphere and carries the same amount of talent and production values I'm going to have warm oozy shit bubbling in my chest for weeks after I see it. Also, another Howard Shore score to anticipate. It's like the early 00's all over again!

 

[LegendofJoe]

I guess they ended up deciding to completely drop the idea of a bridging movie between The Hobbit and LotR. It's probably a good decision, but I would have liked to see what Del Toro and Jackson could have done with a little more creative freedom.