Jackson: No 3-D for the Hobbit

Peter Jackson provided an update on The Hobbit films at the premiere of his next film "The Lovely Bones" to the BBC. To sum, the movie is in pre-production, the scripts are being worked on (some sites say the first film script is completed) and the film will not be shot for 3D.

The project is currently in pre-production, and Jackson said he had been scouting for locations in New Zealand immediately before travelling to London.

He stressed that there would be continuity between his films and Del Toro's, despite the latter being better known for macabre material like Pan's Labyrinth.

"We're writing the screenplays with him, so in terms of the script, there is continuity," he said.

"We're writing Ian McKellen's dialogue just the same as we did in Lord Of The Rings. But Guillermo, being the director, will obviously take the script and interpret that and shoot his film. So that'll be interesting to see.

"That's actually the reason I wanted him to do it. I felt like I'd be trying to compete with myself and deliberately do things differently, which is not the way I want to work. I want it to be natural."

...he revealed, The Hobbit will not be filmed in 3D, despite the current vogue for the technology in the movie industry.

"Guillermo wants to shoot in 35mm, old-fashioned film," Jackson said, "which suits me, because he wants to keep it in the same space as the original trilogy".

Brian Cox for The Hobbit?

AICN is reporting a new rumor that suggests that Brian Cox could be up for a role as one of the dwarves in The Hobbit. The actor has had a pretty good career starring in such films as Braveheart, Nuremberg, Super Troopers, The Bourne films, and more.

This is a news item I'd love to proclaim with all-out certainty, but my tried and trusted source(s) aren't sure if this is a total lock, or whether it's just someone they're seriously interested in. Either way, producers of THE HOBBIT have begun looking at casting for the dwarves (dwarfs?), and one name has emerged as a major contender: Brian Cox. He's a brilliant choice for the role: physically, he fits with the depiction of the race in LOTR (well, Gimli), and he's a born Scotsman. Also, he could yell at Galadriel for adding narration. So there you go. If this comes to fruition, you heard it here first!

Keep in mind this is 100% in the rumor column as probably more casting rumors will leak with time and probably not even half will actually be true.

Guillermo Cameo Planned

THe Hobbit director Guillermo Del Toro confirmed on The One Ring message boards that he plans to have a cameo appearance in the Hobbit movie, much like the Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson did.

“I had a hand on the design of the creature and I will personally sculpt the appliances that will be applied on my face and hands. I used to sculpt the creatures for NECROPIA (my FX company) and I miss it a bit. I will have a line or two and die quickly.”

Guillermo On Making the Hobbit

The Hobbit Director Guillermo Del Toro recently spoke with Total Film about the status of films. He discusses some of the challenges the film will involve, working on the script, Gandalf's role, creature design and more. The full article is here, snippets below.

How did it work with the writing of the script? Presumably you’ve had as much input as Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens?
Many, many months ago we sat down to discuss the structure with 3in by 5in cards and we laid out the two movies.

We were meeting on a daily basis at 9am and we would go at it for hours, into the afternoon. Then in the afternoon I would go to check on design.

Then at one point we split into two teams: I did one pass at things and they did a pass at things; it’s pretty much the way I’m used to co-writing.

But I must say what was great and what made a big difference was the amount of great ideas that I felt were generated in a day – it was staggering.

We could have written three or four versions of The Hobbit [laughs].

You mentioned the structure. Will the book make up the first movie, with the second movie plucked from the appendices and maybe even your imagination? Or will parts of the book be saved for the second movie?
We are respecting the structure established by Professor Tolkien because the order of the adventures in The Hobbit is well known to generations and generations of kids. You don’t want to be moving stuff like that.

But we will be integrating Gandalf’s comings and goings because he does disappear in the book quite often.

So, as opposed to the book, we see where he goes and what happens to him

Smaug won’t be like the dragons in Reign Of Fire, say. Was it a big challenge to communicate his character?
I think one of the designs I’m the proudest of is Smaug. Obviously he took the longest.

It’s actually still active: we’re finishing his colour palette and a little bit of the texture. But the bulk of the design took about a year, solid. It’s because of the unique features of the dragon.

Early in production I came up with a very strong idea that would separate Smaug from every other dragon ever made. The problem was implementing that idea. But I think we’ve nailed it.

How about the scale of The Hobbit? You’ve done big action sequences in Mimic, the Hellboy movies and Blade II, but you’ve never tackled anything like the climactic Battle of Five Armies…No – and I think that I’m really quite eager to go and do that. But at the same time there were so many battles in the trilogy. So one of the first things is how do we make the battles or the action in The Hobbit feel different from that?

Because it was fresh when the trilogy came out, to see those enormous valleys or fortresses being invaded by warriors.

But then after the trilogy you had Troy, Narnia, everything. It has become quite common seeing two massive CG armies attacking each other.

So we came up with a good solution, I think. It will make the battles stand out

Will you be using the same palette as the trilogy, dark and fertile?
I think The Hobbit is a bit more colourful. And a bit more operatic. And whimsical. One of the things the book marks very strongly is the seasons, so we’re using that as the basis of our thought.

McKellen Expands on Hobbit Script

Sir Ian McKellen the other day indicated that he had read a draft of the script and in an interview with MTV, the actor expanded more about the Hobbit script saying that it draws on more than just the book.

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McKellan Talks About Hobbit Script

Sir Ian McKellen, Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, provided an update on the script for the Hobbit films while promoting AMC's The Prisoner. Apparently he has already read a draft and he briefly describes some aspects of it without giving away any spoilers.

From SciFi Wire:

As Peter has said, they loved writing Gandalf [for The Hobbit] because they knew who they were writing him for," McKellen told us exclusively in an interview last week while promoting AMC's The Prisoner. "There are a lot of characters in The Hobbit, including, crucially, Bilbo, and they don't know who's going to play Bilbo. So it's extremely attractive that this part has been written for me. The other Gandalf was written for, well, just as Gandalf. There's lots for me to enjoy, in all sorts of ways. And I couldn't be happier. But I'm sworn to secrecy. I'm not to say anything at all about the script."

As for del Toro's input into the new script, McKellen said that he and Jackson speak the same language. "They are the same person," he said. "They were separated at birth. They're twins. They have the same attitude. Neither likes working in Hollywood. They're both fascinated by fantasy and violence on the screen, and gore, and things that frighten you. They like going into the psyche. They're both brilliant storytellers in very much the same way. And I think the script, because I have read it, plays very much to Guillermo's strengths, as I've seen them. I have seen his other movies, and people act very well in them. So I think it's all fine. And Peter will always be there."