By Fred Topel | Image property of respective holders
The Hobbit
The Saturn Awards gave Guillermo del Toro a Lifetime Achievement award at their 34th annual ceremony. Considering he is about to embark on a two-film adaptation of The Hobbit, it might be a bit early.
Guillermo Del Toro Talks Hobbit
"[I've] barely started," said del Toro. "We have had preliminary chats. We have had a chat where we sketch out what we think of the two movies, but there's no writing. There is note taking. There is breaking down the novel. There is a lot of work already being done on our part but real preproduction will not start until late July."
That means all the casting rumors are just rumors. Even though James McAvoy will be much more viable now that Wanted has opened, del Toro is not holding auditions yet.
"It's not about viable, it's not about box office. I think we know, Peter, Fran, Phillipa and I are going from the exact same side which is we'll cast whoever seems to fit the pages. We know the precedent on the trilogy was Elijah Wood who was a very well known actor and on his way to becoming a star, but not necessarily, he wouldn't have been a superstar back then. I think he was cast right for the part and we're doing the same."
With the success and acclaim for Lord of the Rings, del Toro could have been intimidated. Instead, he just thinks about The Hobbit. "I'm completely crazy about the novel and that's the only thing that prevailed in my judgment. I thought about it for a long time and I had a discussion or two with Peter about it and I felt comfortable enough that the leeway was there, that the respect was there. He knew that I respected and loved his movies. Actually, what is funny is in many occasions while promoting Pan's Labyrinth, I used to say I don’t like fantasy, I don't like this, I don't like that, but those three movies made such a huge impression of me before I knew The Hobbit was even on the horizon. I guess those are the ones that don’t make good copy."
Of course, del Toro sees some darkness in The Hobbit where others may consider it the lighter prelude to Rings. "I'm trying to be faithful. I'm trying to recreate on the screen the feeling I had when I was 11 in my bed reading the book, how excited I got, how great I thought it was. That's what I'm trying to honor. I'm not trying to honor either my style or what I'm gravitating normally towards. I know that for a fact I gravitated towards the novel so there's something there that echoes with me, which is not the case with most of fantasy in my case."
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