Executive producer Peter Jackson and director Guillermo del Toro participated in a live chat session earlier today where they answered previously submitted reader questions regarding their plans for The Hobbit movie and its sequel, currently referred to as Film Two (F2).
I tried following the live chat, but it was going so fast, I didn’t catch everything (del Toro was doing a lot of pasting in of large amounts of previously published text). Luckily, the chat transcript is now online at Wetaholics.
The duo are currently in the early planning stages of the films and casting and script have not yet commenced, but they did talk a lot about story ideas, concepts, filming locations, and possibly casting.
The question most asked was which of the actors from Jackson’s Lord of the Rings film trilogy would reprise their roles in The Hobbit movies. While they couldn’t exactly answer as to which actors would definitely appear, del Toro said, “Unequivocally, every single actor that originated a role in the Trilogy will be asked to participate and reprise it” and that Ian McKellen will “absolutely” return as Gandalf.
Jackson: “… apart from extreme circumstances, we would never recast a character who appeared in the LOTR trilogy. You can read The Hobbit and pretty much see which characters play a part. The unknown facter is Film Two, which we are still developing. If we wished to write one of the LOTR characters into the narrative of Film Two, we would only do that with that actors blessing, and willingess to take part. Otherwise we’d take the writing in another direction.”
Del Toro said that he’s thinking of several possibilities for the person to be the voice of Smaug, but probably not Hellboy II‘s Ron Perlman, for whom he has other plans. As to whether Ian Holm will return as Bilbo Baggins, del Toro said, “We will utilize him in some fashion for sure but the difficulty of the role will be better assessed after we do the script(s).”
Also returning composer Howard Shore and artist Alan Lee and John Howe, as well as many of the LOTR production teams. Del Toro said he will “supplement the FX departments, the design departments (with very interesting names), but the crew will utilize as many of the original elements as possible.”
As far as scheduling goes, Jackson said he will spend the rest of this year writing — along with his LOTR writing parters Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, as well as del Toro — with 2009 dedicated to pre-production on both films and 2010 when the films will be shot back-to-back; The Hobbit will be released December 2011, with F2 following in December 2012.
Jackson said that it’s unlikely they’ll need any locations outside of New Zealand, which has previously provided the setting for Middle Earth, with plans to rebuild Hobbiton in the exact location except “bigger and even better than what it was for LOTR.”
Del Toro said that the two films, which are not currently planned as 3D movies (someone asked), will be rated “an intense PG-13”; when talking about the films’ dark elements, the director had this to say:
I hope that Mirkwood can be pretty scary but not graphic, I hope Riddles in the dark has an element of fear and suspense and to be deeply atmospheric but still allow the ingenious, engaging contest to take place. And Smaug should be all shock and awe when he unleashes his anger so, it will be pretty intense but not gorey.
A big question is what exactly will the second film be like. Here’s what Jackson and Del Toro offered up about this film, which takes place some time during the 60-year gap between The Hobbit and the first LOTR story The Fellowship of the Ring:
GDT: The idea is to find a compelling way to join THE HOBBIT and FELLOWSHIP and enhance the 5 films both visually an in their Cosmology. There’s omissions and material enough in the available, licensed material to attempt this. The agreement is, however, that the second film must be relevant and emotionally strong enough to be brought to life but that we must try and contain the HOBBIT in a single film.
PJ: I’m really looking forward to developing Film Two. It gives us a freedom that we haven’t really had on our Tolkien journey. Some of you may well say that’s a good thing of course! The Hobbit is interesting in how Tolkien created a feeling of dangerous events unfolding, which preoccupy Gandalf. There’s an awful lot of incident that happens during that 60 year gap. At this stage, we’re not imagining a film that literally covers 60 years, like a bio-pic or documentary. We would figure out what happens during that 60 years, and choose one short section of time to drop in and dramatise for the screen. I’m really interested in how it effects The Hobbit – do we show what happens to Gandalg during his trips away? We’ll see. We may well have seeds for Film Two that we’ll subtly sow during The Hobbit.
While the duo do not know at this time if The Hobbit films will get an extended DVD and/or Blu-Ray release, Jackson did say that he is currently working on a Blu-Ray version of the LOTR trilogy with Warner Bros at the moment. While he’s not sure of its release date, he’s certain it won’t be this year.
Read the lengthy and informative full chat log over at Wetaholics and enjoy!
Executive producer Peter Jackson and director Guillermo del Toro participated in a live chat session earlier today where they answered previously submitted reader questions regarding their plans for The Hobbit movie and its sequel, currently referred to as Film Two (F2).
Couldn’t imagine the Hobbit having anyone but Ian McKellan as Gandalf – so extremely happy to hear that he’s already on board. Can’t imagine any reason whatsoever why other LOTR stars wouldn’t sign on as quick as umanly possible – I mean it’s not like the franchise is bad for their careers. Anyone seen Viggio in anything recently?
Cheers,
Captain Obvious 22
thehouseofbabes.blogspot.com
Comment by Captain Obvious 22 — May 25, 2008 @ 7:48 am