The Hobbit Shoot Starts in Nine Months

In a new article from the LA Times, Guillermo del Toro discusses his work form the last few years (Pan's Labyrinth, Hellboys, book The Strain) and his future plans (The Hobbit, Frankenstein, and more). If you a fan of the director, it is an interesting read.

From the Hobbit perspective, the most interesting piece of information is this:

In nine months, he will begin shooting “The Hobbit,” and all he has to do is match the Tolkien achievement of Peter Jackson, the “Lord of the Rings” director whose three films pulled in more than $2.9 billion at the box office worldwide and collected 17 Oscars, including one for best picture and another for director. (Jackson is back as producer on “The Hobbit” and said last year that he “cannot think of a more inspired filmmaker to take the journey back to Middle-earth.”)

As for “The Hobbit,” Del Toro is in the midst of intense pre-production, doing work with models, script pages, set blueprints and thousands of decisions on details.

Asked about the film and what he wants to avoid with it, Del Toro said: “What I want to do is make the best movie I have ever done. What I want to avoid is to make some fastidious tracing of lines that were established by the ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy. We’re trying to be respectful of it, and what was shown in the trilogy is canon, but we are gleefully exploring new creatures, new set pieces, new territory and new avenues. "As with everything, there is always something new to get excited about.”

It appears that scripting continues, pre-production design is moving along and the plan is on track to start filming around April 2010.