Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam (Sean Astin) look over some new trouble in THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS
© New Line Cinema
Del Toro & Jackson Answer Fan Questions for HOBBIT
By: Jarrod SarafinDate: Saturday, May 24, 2008
Source: Official website
Even though director Guillermo del Toro has another four good years of production ahead of him for the upcoming Hobbit prequels, that's not stopping him and executive producer Peter Jackson from answering tons of fan questions. The duo worked together in a online chat today.
Here's a glimpse of what was said and what went down.
Peter_Jackson: Hi this is Peter here, great to talk to all of you. It is a rainy Sun morning down here in NZ, hopefully there is sun shining where you are. Over in London we have Guillermo on the other end of his computer, and he'll be coming on to say hi. A quick note, we will deal with the 20 most popular questions that have arrived over the last 2 weeks during the course of the hour, but would love to answer as many as we can from as many of you on this chat and who want to fire additional questions. So let us get underway. Hi Guillermo, are you ready?
Guillermo_del_Toro: Hi! Guillermo here- Its a bit cloudy in London but people are already drinking out on the streets- God Bless the pubs-
Peter_Jackson: We have them in a super exciting count down form and will start with Q20. We have chosen 1 questino but in the case of these 20 they represent many 100s of similar questins.
wetahost: Here's the first question: 20 - Will you be doing less location shooting this time because your set builders, digital effects teams etc have become so proficient?
Peter_Jackson: Middle-earth is location, with very few structures really. It's a natural countryside and that's where a lot of shooting will take place.
Guillermo_del_Toro: Location will be favored and real set construction. I love REAL set construction and think that sets are very important part of the storytelling and scope of a film...
AnthonyPearson: What are your plans with the casting of Bilbo Baggins? Is Ian Holm still an option?
Guillermo_del_Toro: The fact that Ian Holm is SO memorable means that PJ, Fran and PB did their job right. We will utilize him in some fashion for sure but the difficulty of th erole will be better assesed after we do the script (s).
DavidPlaice: Will there be any locations outside New Zealand, e.g. the Welsh Marches for The Shire?
Peter_Jackson: Hi David - It is unlikely we will need any locations outside of NZ which has always been the perfect Middle Earth. there is nothing yet that tolkien has described that we haven't managed to find in this amazing little country and I expect the Hobbit to be no different.
Guillermo_del_Toro: None being considered at the moment.
aust: Will Howard Shore be returning to do the score?
Guillermo_del_Toro: Yes- absolutely, Shore is the VOICE of these films and we will absolutely be invited back. Peter and Fran have talked to him a couple of times already and Ive exchanged emails about the subject. He will return.
nolcai: Hello. Are you planning to use some location in italy?
Peter_Jackson: Hi nolcai it is unlikely we will shoot any of the Hobbit of Italy, but I would love come to Italy for a vacation, you should tell me the best places to visit.
Guillermo_del_Toro: Not really- But I love Italy...
wetahost: 19 - May i congratulate on your new appointment as director of The Hobbit, Guillermo. My question is to Guillermo, what can we expect from your vision and approach with this picture and I'm guessing there will be alot of dark elements to this film, but how far will you go in terms of horror and violence?
Guillermo_del_Toro: 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.
icaroz: Will the Ring trilogy get a blu-ray release around the time of Hobbit? or sooner?
Peter_Jackson: Hi Icaroz - We are working on a blu ray version of the LOTR trilogy with Warner Bros at the moment, not sure when it is due for release. It certainly won't be this year.
KenshinIV: What are the chances Ron Perlman will be voicing Smog?
Guillermo_del_Toro: At this time the voice of Smaug is down to a very few choices in my head and I have a completely specific one, Ron has a good chance but I have other plans for RP... we will see...
Galdor_Felagund: Will you use the Hobbit holes used in LotR?
Peter_Jackson: Hi Galdor-Falagund - yes we hope with the permission of the land owner that we will rebuild Hobbiton bigger and even better than what it was for LOTR in exactly the same location
Peter_Jackson: Here is Q18
wetahost: 18 - Peter & Guillermo: What do you envision Gandalf's role will be in this film? He seems to go off on his own and disappear in several sections of the book. Do you want to stay faithful to that or give him a more active role? How do you think you'll ingratiate his character into an effective, cinematic storyline?
Guillermo_del_Toro: I believe that Gandalf is meant to be used in that way- coming and
going in and out of the narrative. If anything, this creates the perfect setting for those “gaps” to be bridged by the second film…
Peter_Jackson: Those gaps are great! There's a lot of stuff going on, which is distracting him. I'm just pleased to be getting Gandalf the Grey back for two more movies. Ian and I loved him best. We were a little sad when the Gandy the White took over.
mwilcox: Will you be filming the Hobbit in 3D?
Guillermo_del_Toro: At this stage it is too early to tell, but no plans are being made for that at the moment...
RSG1050: Mr. del Toro, have you started keeping a notebook of sketches on this film yet?
Guillermo_del_Toro: I have started already and shared some of the design a=ideas with Alan Lee and John Howe during a very excited lunch in London.
RobbieM: Will Ian McKellen return as Gandalf?
Guillermo_del_Toro: Absolutely!!
Peter_Jackson: Hi Robbie - absolutely
Peter_Jackson: Here comes Q17
wetahost: 17 - Dear Peter Jackson, I enjoyed your cameos in the LOTR movies, Will you have a cameo in this Hobbit, and what character would you like to play?
Peter_Jackson: I actually haven't thought about it. My convention is to do cameos in films I direct. I don't know if that extends to films I produce. I guess we'll find out. I love Hobbits! I am a Hobbit, in very many respects, as were my parents. Tolkien wrote about a type of people he knew, in pre-war England, and somewhere along the line, he must have bumped into my relatives!
Guillermo_del_Toro: Unlike Peter, I'm a Dwarf ( a coarse creature I am)- but I studiously avoid cameos…
Jessalyn: When do you expect filming to begin?
Peter_Jackson: Dear Jesslyn - at this point in time the plan is to write for the rest of this year and start early conceptual designs. 2009 will be dedicated to pre-production on both movies and 2010 will be the year we shoot both films back to back. Post productin follows one film at a time with The Hobbit being released Dec 2011, and F2 release Dec 2012. That is the schedule in about as much detail as we have ourselves at the moment.
Peter_Jackson: And Q16 ...
wetahost: 16- Peter: What was it about Guillermo that made you feel he was the
right guy to continue on the saga of Middle-earth? Are the two of
you on the same page for the vision, direction, and style that these movies will have? If the two of you disagree on a point, who wins out?
Peter_Jackson: I'll talk more about this in a later question, but watching his films, he has
respect for fantasy. He understands it, he's not frightened by it. Guillermo also understands character, and how the power of any movie is almost always linked to how closely we empathize with characters within the story. His work shows great care and love for the main characters he creates. He also has supreme confidence with design, and visual effects. So many film makers are scared of visual effects - which is no crime, but tough if you're doing one of these movies!
If we disagree, the director has to win, because you should never force a director to shoot something they don't believe in. But we're both reasonably practical and ego-free, and I believe that if we disagree, we both have the ability to express our differing theorys - state our case, like lawyers - and between us, work out what's best for the movie.
Eriol: So what age rating are you aiming at?
Peter_Jackson: Hi Eriol - the rating will be the same as the Trilogy, PG13 on both movies
Guillermo_del_Toro: An intense PG-13...
Reguba: Will the Hobbit get an extended edition like LOTR?
Peter_Jackson: Dear Reguba - interesting Q. The truth (and this is the truth) is that you don't plan for extended editions up front an extended edition is the result of left over scenes that have been deleted out of theatrical cut. In an ideal world the script is written lean and tight and therefore there are no scenes left on the cuttring room floor and therefore no extended edition. However when writing 3 epic LOTR films there was no way we could keep the writing process as lean, so the extended edition was a result of seeing our thought process during the writing and shooting play itself out on screen with scenes we no longer needed when we finally cut the films together. Whether there will be an extended edition of the Hobbit will depend entirely on the final theatrical cut and what we have left over.
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Interesting read this article, can't believe they are even considering having Ian Holme show up as Bilbo. My feeling is the dude is 2 damn old.
Hobbit in 3D would be nice. Wonder what the hell Perlman will be doing in this flick.