Guillermo Del Toro directing TH

[Kennashi]

Latest news: http://www.comingsoon.net/news/hobbitnews.php?id=44069

So there's an apparent 95% chance that Del Toro's directing. I can honestly say that I'm relieved, since this'll shut up the Jackson-haters, and because Pan's Labyrinth was simply a miracle in filmmaking. But what do you guys think?

[Nautipus]

I think, "Frik, yeah" Because I like him as a director. I'm also excied about the H.P. Lovecraft story that he is supposed to deliver in 2010.


Welcome to the 'Moot, Kennashi.

[The Dread Pirate Roberts]

Originally Posted by Kennashi

Latest news: http://www.comingsoon.net/news/hobbitnews.php?id=44069

So there's an apparent 95% chance that Del Toro's directing. I can honestly say that I'm relieved, since this'll shut up the Jackson-haters, and because Pan's Labyrinth was simply a miracle in filmmaking. But what do you guys think?

I don't think it will shut up the Jackson-haters.
I do think Del Toro did a great job with Pan's Labyrinth.
I don't think Del Toro has ever done a children's story.
I do think Blade II and Hellboy were both crap and Mimic was marginal.
I don't think The Hobbit movie is going to be a whimsical G-rated story.
I do think there will be as many gory shots as they can get away with and still keep it PG-13.
I don't think it will be appropriate for my (at that time) 9 year old.
I do think I'm going to like it more than I liked TT or RotK.
I don't know why Jackson's producing but not directing.

[Nautipus]

I thought the whole Blade series was toilet food.

I actually like Hellboy quite a bit, what didnt you like about it? ( I love discussion)

[Curufin]

I don't think it will shut up the Jackson-haters.

Because we hate Jackson because of what he did, not because of who he is. Anyone who similarly bastardizes Tolkien will get the same treatment.

I do think Del Toro did a great job with Pan's Labyrinth.

It was alright, but I do have to say that I thought it was the most overrated movie EVAH...

I don't think Del Toro has ever done a children's story.

Not that I can think of.

I do think Blade II and Hellboy were both crap and Mimic was marginal.

None of these movies even piqued my interest enough to watch them. But if that's the thing Del Toro does, Curu is not impressed.

I don't think The Hobbit movie is going to be a whimsical G-rated story.

As it should be.

I do think there will be as many gory shots as they can get away with and still keep it PG-13.

In the HOBBIT???

I don't think it will be appropriate for my (at that time) 9 year old.

I doubt it.

I do think I'm going to like it more than I liked TT or RotK.

I'll make that judgement when I get there.

This guy's movies are far too dark for him to be making the Hobbit.

[Nautipus]

Originally Posted by Curufin

It was alright, but I do have to say that I thought it was the most overrated movie EVAH...

That would be Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

[Curufin]

That one is also definitely on the list.

[The Dread Pirate Roberts]

re: Hellboy. I don't even remember why I didn't like it. I only remember the reaction. Maybe I should Netflix it again.

re: gore. Sure, Curufin. There is the troll's knock-down, drag-out among themselves and then their capture and brutal treatment of the dwarves. There is the capture of the dwarves and Bilbo during which Gandalf kills a few with a magic flash. There is the killing of the Great Goblin, which will doubtless be expanded into a great underground battle. There is the spider battle. There is Beorn's capture and murder of a wolf and orc. There is Smaug's destruction of Lake Town. And there is the Battle of Five Armies.

Plenty of opportunity for the makeup and effects people to do their business.

re: age level. The book is a children's story. I first read it to my daughter when she was five. She first saw the animated movie when she was 7. I'd love to see a version that maintains the joy and whimsy of the book.

[The Dread Pirate Roberts]

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was a great film, IF you like the genre. I happen to think it was wonderful. I liked Hero even better. House of Flying Daggers was visually a masterpiece. But all of it is the kind of stuff you either like or you don't.

[Curufin]

Originally Posted by The Dread Pirate Roberts

re: gore. Sure, Curufin. There is the troll's knock-down, drag-out among themselves and then their capture and brutal treatment of the dwarves. There is the capture of the dwarves and Bilbo during which Gandalf kills a few with a magic flash. There is the killing of the Great Goblin, which will doubtless be expanded into a great underground battle. There is the spider battle. There is Beorn's capture and murder of a wolf and orc. There is Smaug's destruction of Lake Town. And there is the Battle of Five Armies.

Plenty of opportunity for the makeup and effects people to do their business.

Oh, sure, my point wasn't that they couldn't find appropriate places for gore. My problem was that it seems so...antithetical to the whole feeling of the Hobbit. As you said, the whimsy. If they put too much gore into it, it's going to destroy the feeling of the work.

re: age level. The book is a children's story. I first read it to my daughter when she was five. She first saw the animated movie when she was 7. I'd love to see a version that maintains the joy and whimsy of the book.

Agreed. It should be made for kids. I'd be much more comfortable with someone directing it who had done children's films before.

[Nautipus]

re:re) Hellboy- Haha, maybe. It's an okay movie. It didnt make my list of faves, but I'd watch it again.

True about Crouching Tiger. That genre is rather hit or miss. You either like it or you dont. I dont think there is a way to "acquire the taste" either.

[Kennashi]

Guys, guys...I don't think you should be so quick to say that del Toro is automatically going to put gore into the movie just because he's a horror-specialist. PJ was only making horror films by the time he made LOTR, and he did a somewhat fair job(please don't bash me) with it.

[Curufin]

and he did a somewhat fair job(please don't bash me) with it.

*bashes you*



But if 'Pan's Labyrinth' is his idea of a 'Fairy Tale' I don't really want to see what he's going to do with The Hobbit. I'm sure it will be different, but the truth is that directors have a signature style. And his isn't appropriate for this.

[Kennashi]

Originally Posted by Curufin

*bashes you*

*screams in pain*

Originally Posted by Curufin

But if 'Pan's Labyrinth' is his idea of a 'Fairy Tale' I don't really want to see what he's going to do with The Hobbit. I'm sure it will be different, but the truth is that directors have a signature style. And his isn't appropriate for this.

Well, his interests in filmmaking are pretty dark, but I still think he would make a fairly good adaptation with TH, as Hellboy was a particular among comic book adaptations, and his talent at characterization (once again, I hold up Hellboy) is better than PJ's at least.

[Curufin]

I think the atmosphere is most important, though. The whimsical, happy, fa-la-la-singing-Elves sort of feeling. I'm not sure he can do that.

[BeardofPants]

I was disappointed with Pan's Labyrinth. Some people rec'd it to me (and normally I trust their judgement), but ... it didn't do anything for me.

I hope he doesn't **** the Hobbit up. (o.o)

Originally Posted by The Dread Pirate Roberts

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was a great film, IF you like the genre. I happen to think it was wonderful. I liked Hero even better. House of Flying Daggers was visually a masterpiece. But all of it is the kind of stuff you either like or you don't.

I agree (loved CHHD).

[Willow Oran]

Originally Posted by Curufin

*bashes you*



But if 'Pan's Labyrinth' is his idea of a 'Fairy Tale' I don't really want to see what he's going to do with The Hobbit. I'm sure it will be different, but the truth is that directors have a signature style. And his isn't appropriate for this.

Pan's Labyrinth falls well within the Fairy Tale criteria.
It seems shocking because we're used to Disney's fluffiefied fairies, but in the real Cinderella the Stepsisters cut off bits of their feet in order to fit into the glass slipper and end by getting their eyes pecked out by Cinderella's songbird helpers.
And in the Three Little Pigs the first two pigs get eaten and the last actually eats the wolf.
Never mind the Nordic Sagas or Arthurian Legends...
The mythologies that Tolkien was working from had far more gratuitous violence than anything Del Toro is likely to do to The Hobbit.
Which doesn't mean that he should make it less than kid appropriate, it just means that he won't really be breaking the tradition it's written within if he chooses to be more honest to the reality of the adventure and its inherent dangers than to the few moments of whimsy present in Hobbiton and Rivendell.

[Curufin]

Originally Posted by Willow Oran

Pan's Labyrinth falls well within the Fairy Tale criteria.
It seems shocking because we're used to Disney's fluffiefied fairies, but in the real Cinderella the Stepsisters cut off bits of their feet in order to fit into the glass slipper and end by getting their eyes pecked out by Cinderella's songbird helpers.
And in the Three Little Pigs the first two pigs get eaten and the last actually eats the wolf.
Never mind the Nordic Sagas or Arthurian Legends...
The mythologies that Tolkien was working from had far more gratuitous violence than anything Del Toro is likely to do to The Hobbit.
Which doesn't mean that he should make it less than kid appropriate, it just means that he won't really be breaking the tradition it's written within if he chooses to be more honest to the reality of the adventure and its inherent dangers than to the few moments of whimsy present in Hobbiton and Rivendell.

While everything you say about Fairy Tales is true, I think that if he does the Hobbit in the same dark fashion that he did Pan's Labyrinth, he's going to be making a huge mistake. Yes, Fairy Tales from the past are dark, bloody, brutal and morbid. No doubt. The Hobbit, however, isn't. Not at all. Yes, there are battles and the like, but the whole thing is infused with a light-hearted whimsy - and I'm not just talking about the moments in Hobbiton and Rivendell. This 'whimsy' is felt in Bilbo's 'riddle' with Gollum, and in all the 'brutal' things. It's what keeps it a children's story, even though it deals with darker matters. Tolkien isn't The Brothers' Grimm.

[Willow Oran]

But if he loses the riddle game, he gets eaten. Whimsy doesn't necessarily preclude creepiness.

[The Dread Pirate Roberts]

I have little doubt it will be made for the same age-group PJ's LotR was made for.

While LotR is an epic classic adult book with a film dumbed-down to the mass market, TH is a classic children's book with a film that will be scaled-up in maturity to the mass market.