Director Guillermo del Toro may have a very busy schedule ahead of him---being locked in until 2017---but the man had time to attend The New Yorker Festival in Manhattan this weekend where New Yorker writer Daniel Zalewski had a chance to pick his brain on past cinematic achievements and what's to come with his upcoming high profile projects, three major ones being The Hobbit: Part 1, Part 2 and Frankenstein. As usual, Del Toro was open about his progress thus far and Comingsoon's Max Evry was on hand to record the conversation.
When asked about planning out the story for Middle Earth, something of which is currently "feeding his brain", he had this to say on it. "I find you have to discipline yourself to write in the morning, and then watch and read in the afternoons stuff that seems relevant, even in a tangential way. For example, reading or watching World War I documentaries or books that I think inform 'The Hobbit,' strangely enough, because I believe it is a book born out of Tolkien's generation's experience with World War I and the disappointment of being in that field and seeing all those values kind of collapse. I think it's a turning point that you need to familiarize yourself with. I'm starting. Peter Jackson is such a fan of that historical moment and obsessive collector of World War I memorabilia, and he owns several genuine, life-size working reproductions of planes, tanks, cannons, ships! He has the perfect obsessive reproductions of uniforms of that time for armies of about 120 soldiers... each. I asked him which books he recommended… because I wouldn't be watching 'Krull' or 'The Dark Crystal,' I need to find my OWN way into the story. That's the same way I did 'Pan's Labyrinth' or 'Devil's Backbone,' by watching stuff you wouldn't think about.
"All my life I've been fascinated by dragons. I was born under the Chinese sign of The Dragon. All my life I'm collecting dragons. It's such a powerful symbol, and in the context of 'The Hobbit' it is used to cast its shadow through the entire narrative. Essentially, Smaug represents so many things: greed, pride… he's 'the Magnificent,' after all. The way his shadow is cast in the narrative you cannot then show it and have it be one thing, he has to be the embodiment of all those things. He's one of the few dragons that will have enormous scenes with lines. He has some of the most beautiful dialogues in those scenes! The design, I'm pretty sure that will be the last design we will sign off on, and the first design we have attempted. It is certainly a matter of turning every stone before figuring out what he looks like, because what he looks like will tell you what he is."
The director also put the Frankenstein direct remake rumors to rest by suggesting that he is going a different direction with Universal Picture's classic monster icon. To see which direction he's taking the character, click here.
His Frankenstein better not sing or dance, or go to jail for dumping nuclear waste. That's copyrighted material, del Toro!
(Speaking of copyrights, did you know they now take up to ten months to go through? The Library of Congress is on permanent anthrax alert.)
It's great to see Del Toro actually trying to understand the mindset of the WWI generation in order to make an adaptation which actually understands the original book.
And on a more pure fanboy level, I see in the linked article that Del Toro is going to revise the Wargs to look like wolves, which is as they're described in Tolkien's writings. As much as I love Jackson's vision, when the giant hyaena design of the Wargs first hit the screen, it was a major WTF-moment for me.
I'm looking forward to del Toro's take on Frankenstein too, and I hope he gets around to filming Lovecraft's "At the Mountains of Madness." Del Toro seems to be going down my list of favorite authors in his film projects... just throw in a Ray Bradbury adaptation and my movie-going life will be complete!
Zaldar, it was announced some time ago that Peter Jackson will be producing The Hobbit and its sequel, while Del Toro will be directing them.
I'm glad Frankestein won't be an origin story. Looking foward to both of Del Toro's projcts.
Kimbo you frakkin bum!!! Damn you Slice, damn u straight to hell!!!
Wow, Down under all the way to Manhattan. That's a heck of a lot of traveling for a guy as busy as he is.
I like that he's doing the same thing that Jackson did. In the process of making LOTR Jackson shared his thoughts, ideas, and updates with the fans. It made for a more enjoyable experience and we felt a part of it from beginning to end. Good to see Del Toro taking the same road. I've always hated that Lucas and Spielberg want to hide everything. I know their reasons behind it but I've always thought they go way overboard. Just goes to show you the difference in the generations of the film makers.
He can't make The Hobbitt films fast enough. Everything else can sit wait at the back and wait.
Smokey to Kimbo Slice
"You just got knocked the FUCK out"
hanso, I guess we can drop the "son!" when mentioning this bum, huh?
You are correct sir! It's no longer Kimbo Slice son!! It's Kimbo "You damm bitch you just knocked out by a bum" Slice. I know the dude was overhyped but damn, I didn't think it was that bad. Dude got dropped by a damn jab. That's some sad shit.
I ain't even nominating him for more movie roles no more. Damn U Slice!!!!!!!!
When Kimbo got dropped by that sissy slap I thought, "HANSO HAS GOT TO BE FLIPPIN OUT!"
It was sad.
Love Del Torro, I agree this can't happen fast enough and I still want Hellboy 3.
Del Toro is tha SHIT!!! Blade2 stays in heavy rotation@ tha crib. HellBoy was kinda fluffy, yet fun. Still lookin4 his early work. I luv when geeky fanboys make movies. You can tell he'z doin it4 tha audience more than tha studio. Hollywood Hoes beware!! Might actually hav a good Frankenstein movie on deck.
Yeah, I couldn't care less about Frank, but I'm sure I'll go see it if it looks good, but I'm so pumped for the Hobbit. It doesn't bother me to much if he changes the wargs. I never liked their look much anyway, but I hope he doesn't deviate much from Peter's look of Middle Earth, because I think he hit most of it right on the head.
Can't wait to see Smaug. Can't wait to see Lonely mountain and Can't wait to see the Spiders. Wonder if Legolos will be in the background when the dwarves are captured.
LOGIN
REGISTER
RSS
HOME
