THE HOBBIT NEWS

Guillermo Addresses Hobbit Concerns, Nothing to Worry About

by Alex Billington
December 12, 2009
Source: TheOneRing.net

Another update on The Hobbit? Yes, but this time the update comes from Guillermo del Toro himself on TheOneRing.net. The head honcho addressed some issues that have popped up recently regarding The Hobbit. He first talks about certain actors returning, only because some have said that Andy Serkis might not be back (don't worry, he will be). He also addresses the greenlight concern that we actually wrote about as well. Peter Jackson said recently that they don't have a greenlight (from New Line Cinema yet) and del Toro explains why that's not really as big of an issue as we're making it out to be. There's more, so read on!

A) About ONLY 3 actors returning: I think the emphasis on "only" is what slant the news the wrong way. I cannot imagine Gollum being played by anyone but Andy and in the second script there is still much in discussion to lock everything for now. Both PJ and I chime in on things "as they are at the moment" and, of course, things change...

B) The target for production. Its simple: we may say what we want but until there are two scripts delivered and budgets and schedules to support them we will be all under a yellow light of development. THAT we have not stopped. As I have reported in the past, we are scouting, designing (my last 3 hour meeting with Weta was this morning) and will not stop. BUT the greenlight and thus commencement can only be granted by the studio. Pete as producer and me as director will do everything we can in the meantime.

C) Is there any trouble brewing with WB? Not at all. All I can say is that they reacted to our delivered script with great delight and we have been receiving strong support in our development.

Smaug is being animation tested, we are editing the previs, doing final selections on Dwarven War Artifacts and Gear and starting many fabrication tests for armies, prosthetics and wardrobes, etc

I just love that Guillermo keeps fans updated like this all the time. It's amazing to know that the director is more than happy to address concerns and make sure everyone knows the latest on the movie. I mean, how often does that really happen? Anyway, it's good to know that there's really nothing to worry about and it's not being delayed and so on. I'm sure I'm not the only one who is now just waiting patiently to see this start shooting so we can finally get excited about it hitting theaters in 2011. And a few weeks ago Peter Jackson confirmed that they have started casting so maybe we'll know who is playing Bilbo Baggins soon as well?

Filed under Hobbit, Hype, Movie News, Opinions

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