Elijah Wood Joining The Hobbit?

TheOneRing.net is reporting that they have confirmed recent rumors that Elijah Wood will reprise his role of Frodo Baggins for at least the first The Hobbit film. The film makes use of the ending of The Lord of the Rings when Frodo completes the "Red Book of Westmarch" that contains the story of The Hobbit and the trilogy.

The fictional book, and either the telling from it or the reading of it, will establish Frodo in the films experiencing Bilbo’s story. Viewers to learn the tale of ‘The Hobbit’ with a familiar Frodo getting the tale as well.

The fictional book, and either the telling from it or the reading of it, will establish Frodo in the films experiencing Bilbo’s story. Viewers to learn the tale of ‘The Hobbit’ with a familiar Frodo getting the tale as well.

Frodo’s return makes it possible that Sean Astin could appear as Sam and other Hobbits such as Merry or Pippin can not be ruled out. TORn’s information indicates however, that Frodo and the young Bilbo are the primary Hobbit connections between the film series.

New-Old Directing & Story Changes Rumors

A few new rumors have popped up regarding who the director of The Hobbit films will be, a major story change from the book, and production start date.

To start with, an old rumor returns with Flicks reporting "District 9 director Neill Blomkamp will be helming The Hobbit." This rumor first started around June and was shot down by the director's agency saying that they have never been contacted by MGM or anyone else about the possibility. This rumor remains completely unverified so take it with a grain of salt for now.

In story rumors, The One Ring is reporting that Bilbo Baggins may have a creator impact on the story's final battle then he did in the film. This is based on a story summary Bilbo that is described as "...he doesn’t have huge courage he does become, particularly in the last battle, very brave." In the novel Bilbo essentially misses out on the last battle (The Battle of Five Armies) having been knocked out early on. So this seems to suggest that he either participates in throughout the battle or maybe gets knocked out deeper into the battle as a result of a heroic act. Jackson has shown, to the consternation of diehard fans, he isn't above making changes to the source material if it will service the film.

The final bit of rumor, from the same article, is principle photography may start in January, rather than the previously rumored November date. This actually makes more sense as currently the MGM bankruptcy situation isn't expected to be settled until the end of the year.

McKellen Updates His Hobbit Status

Sir Ian McKellen, currently in Australian appearing in the play Waiting for Godot, provided a quick update on his status of The Hobbit films and reprising his role as Gandalf to Whats Playing.

“That should have started [production] in April but they didn’t contact me about a contract until a few weeks ago and we’re in negotiation”, the actor, who’d be reprising his Lord of the Rings‘ role Gandalf for the film, said. “I shall see (director) Guillermo del Toro and (executive producer) Peter Jackson when I’m in New Zealand after we’ve been to Australia and well find out more then.”

Continues McKellen, “I’ve read the script, or as much as had been written, they sent it to me, which was very accomplished and good, I thought, and a wonderful part, Gandalf. But I don’t have a contract and I don’t have a start date, so there we are. We’re in a bit of limbo at the moment”.

The likely reason for the lack of a contract is due waiting on the sale of MGM. Once that is completed and the new owners sort the details out, the films can get the official greenlight which means a budget which means the means to pay out the contracts. Until then the films remain in a kind of limbo with completed scripts and most of the pre-production work getting completed "off the books" so to speak until the official word comes down.

Jackson On Hobbit Delay, Casting Rumors

In an interview with Inside Movies to discuss the upcoming release of The Lovely Bones on DVD, The Hobbit Executive Producer Peter Jackson discusses some recent rumors that have popped up online regarding The Hobbit delays and casting.

Is it true that filming on 'The Hobbit' has been delayed until the end of the year?
Well, it's not really been delayed, because we've never announced the date. I mean it's sort of interesting because the studio [MGM] has never greenlit 'The Hobbit,' so therefore 'The Hobbit' has never been officially announced as a "go" project, nor have we ever announced a date. But there's so much interest that people -- newspapers and magazines, of their own account, say, ah, it's likely to film in May, it's likely to film in June, it's likely to film in September. People make this stuff up. And then if it's not filming in June, you get a story saying, "'The Hobbit's' been delayed." But it's never actually been announced.

We've just delivered the script. Literally last week, we delivered the second of the two screenplays -- the first draft. So the studio's got both scripts now, which is a milestone; and if anything was holding it up, it was us doing the screenplays, because we'd just been writing as fast as we can, but it took us this long to get them finished. So we take whatever responsibility there is for the speed. And we're now in the process of budgeting the films, and then hopefully we'll get to a budget the studio [people] are happy with, and they'll greenlight the movies and we'll announce the shooting dates. I'd be pretty optimistic that we'll be shooting before the end of the year. I would imagine October, November, we'd be shooting by. I'm not announcing it, though.

When would you get down to the final stages of casting Bilbo Baggins?
We haven't signed any actors up yet, because we couldn't do that until they greenlight the movie. But I would imagine that if we get a green light within the next month or two, we would be hopefully making some casting announcements by, I guess, the middle of the year. We've done a little bit of auditioning, but we haven't really done any meetings with actors or anything yet. We've just been totally committed to the scripts. Everything's a little bit later than what people assume it is. I think people think we've been sort of doing secret casting.

You keep reading announcements like, "They're definitely going to have these three actors from the previous films ..."
I know, I know. No, there's no definite ... I mean, any character that's returning from 'The Lord of the Rings,' we obviously would love the same actors to play. But even those actors haven't been approached yet, or there [haven't] been any deals done. And the studio wouldn't organically do any of that until they've greenlit the film.

Currently MGM is still on the auction block with several potential buyers but no real date on when a final sell will be concluded. I guess Warner Bros. could greenlight the movie in the meantime but so far there has been no indication that is under consideration. Judging by Jackson's statements, the main facts are the first drafts of both movie scripts are now complete, pre-pre production is in full swing, and actors are being considered for various roles but no deals have been signed. As for concerns about the delays, the issue is more of a delay in releasing the film in December 2011 and less about a production start date. Jackson and company have 20 months to produce a final product so it is a little early to assume that date will be missed.

Jackson Discusses Role Reprisals for Hobbit

In an interview with MTV while promoting The Lovely Bones, The Hobbit Executive Producer Peter Jackson discusses the possible roles from Lord of the Rings that may appears in the films and explains why others will not.

"Gandalf, being a 2,000-year-old wizard, is still around and plays a major role in 'The Hobbit,' and we're having Ian McKellen reprise," explained the filmmaker, who is executive-producing the flick and writing the screenplay. "There's a couple of other characters: Elrond, who was played by Hugo Weaving [in the original films], and there's a possibility of Galadriel, who was played by Cate Blanchett."

"In some respects, it's a prequel," Jackson said of the flick, which he plans to begin filming in mid-2010. "In book terms, the world of 'The Hobbit' takes place 60 years before 'The Lord of the Rings,' as it was written by Tolkien. So, not a lot of the characters actually feature, because they weren't around yet."

"Screenwriting is my favorite part of the whole process. I'm very happy being one of the writing team on 'The Hobbit,' and we've written the first script. It's two movies, and we've written the first script, which the studio responded well to. And we're now halfway through the second script."

"They are elves, so once again, in the realm of Middle-earth, they're immortal, they don't age," he said of Galadriel and Elrond, the only returning "LOTR" main roles besides Gandalf in his script. "We have a process that would start with showing them the script. We're not [beginning] any official process until we have the 'official' script that they can read."

Considering that money and contracts became a huge issue with the cast of the trilogy, getting Cate Blanchett and Hugo Weaving to reprise their roles could prove difficult. Then again, New Line Cinema is no longer involved which may help the cause.

The Hobbit Casting Begins

While promoting his latest release The Lovely Bones, Peter Jackson said in an interview that auditions for the Hobbit has begun this week with every role but Gandalf (Ian McKellen) up for grabs.

From Heat Vision Blog:

“We’re auditioning for every role,” Jackson said in an interview, adding he is a big believer in casting a wide net to better match actors with the roles.

“What we’ve done over the years is discover a lot of interesting actors, like Orlando Bloom (in 'Rings'), Kate Winslet (in 'Heavenly Creatures'), Saoirse Ronan (in 'The Lovely Bones'). So if you start looking and auditioning seriously, it’s amazing what incredible talent you’ll find out there.”

“Apart from Ian McKellen, who we obviously want to return as Gandalf, we are not really offering any roles to anybody until we’ve done a casting sweep,” Jackson said.

“(These movies) have never been a star-driven vehicle. The star is (author J.R.R.) Tolkien and the world he created. We are not under any pressure. We want to find the right people. Casting someone to portray a hobbit is not as easy as you might imagine. They have to have a particular type of physical appearance and a sensibility. And the same with an elf or a dwarf. These are fantastical characters, but you’ve got to find the right people to play them, the right humans to translate these characters.”

“We were always planning to shoot around April or May next year, and as far as I’m aware, we’re pretty much on target for that. It depends on how quickly the studio greenlights the film. It’s not in our hands. But as long as we‘re shooting next year, we’re fine.”

Casting is being handled in Los Angeles and London. Exactly by who, where, on what dates and the roles was not revealed. One additional bit is at least one female role is up for grabs but again no details beyond that. I guess if you have agents, time to get them on the phone to start getting those details if interested in trying out.

The Hobbit Pushed to 2012?

Due to the recent announcement that production on The Hobbit has been delayed by about three months to finish the second movie's script, the rumor mill has started that the first movie will be pushed back to 2012.

"While it is still possible that it could come out in December 2011, it looks more likely to be 2012," an executive close to the film told WaxWord.

However, The Hobbit Executive Producer and Writer Peter Jackson contradicts this statement to SciFi Wire.

"We're still working on the script, and of course it's going to be directed by Guillermo [del Toro]," Jackson said in an exclusive interview with SCI FI Wire. "That's going really well, and in fact we've already delivered the first script to the studio, and they really liked it, so now we're working hard on the second script, and that's going to keep us pretty busy until the end of this year."

"There's no budget yet, and no cast, but we plan to start shooting next year, with the first one coming out by the end of 2011, hopefully," Jackson said. "And while Guillermo's making The Hobbit, I'm not quite sure what I'll be working on, as I want to make completely sure that I'm doing what I need to do for The Hobbit, and that I'll be there to help Guillermo."

"We're all on the same page [about the project], and it all starts with a good script," Jackson said. "We're big believers in structured screenplays, and the thing with our screenwriting partnership, with Fran and Philippa, is that we don't have a traditional screenplay deal with the studio. We don't have two drafts and a bunch of revisions. We refuse to put that into our contracts, as we continually rewrite and refine the scripts as we go."

The main of all this is without both scripts in the can and approved, it’s too difficult to determine who to hire, for what roles, and how to allocate the money. Right now they have an idea of the basics for creature design, begin early design work on special effects and other pre-production effort. As of now it is too early to determine if the movie will be delayed. However, if I had to place bets, I would do it on Jackson and company who are working with a team that has massive filmmaking experience at epic scale movie making which will easily facilitate making up for lost time.

Production on The Hobbit Delayed

Variety is reporting that due to needing more time to work on the script for the second The Hobbit film, production on the project will delayed by three months to middle of next summer. What impact this will have on the desired release date of December 2011 and December 2012 for the two films is unknown.

I don't see this delay effecting the release date just yet as a lot of the work for making the deadline isn't so much the filming itself but in the special effects production work which will be going on from now until the second movie is out. As an example of feasibility, the Transformers films did not start filming before the camera's until the year before their release dates, but actual work on design and special effects began nearly a year before that, a time table the Hobbit is currently following, even if unintentionally.

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".

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."

McKellen Updates Hobbit Status

While at the San Sebastian Film Festival, Sir Ian McKellen provided an update on the status of The Hobbit films. The main bit of news is BOTH scripts for the movies are near completion indicating that Peter Jackson and company have every intention of filming both movies at the same time much like he did the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

From Empire:

“The scripts for the two films will be delivered very soon,” he revealed. “Then they'll be budgeted, and then they'll be cast. And they'll be going when they've always said they would be, which is next spring – March or April. Guillermo even told me at one point, 'We're going to film for 383 days.' He's got that artistic autism! Jackson's the same; they're very, very, very alike. They also very different, but they've so much in common. They both can't stand Hollywood and have wonderful imaginations, and they're both obsessed with gore and fantasy. Both of them laugh a great deal. Guillermo's one of the most brilliant men I've ever met. His English vocabulary is way superior to mine!”

"Unforunately, there won’t be many of the actors going back,” he said, “unless they’re going to put masks on and be disguised as dwarves! Andy Serkis is, at the moment, I think, the only other actor who’s doing this film.”

Script Finished and Bilbo Baggins Cast?

According to The One Ring, the Lord of the Rings actor Sir Ian McKellen (Gandalf) says the script is finished and he knows who has been cast to play the young Bilbo Baggins in the Hobbit movies. The information is from a source who said they spoke with the actor so no telling what reinterpretations have been added into mix.

From TheOneRing:

Then we received the following e-mail tonight from Ringer spy Olli from an all-night LOTR screening which seems to confirm everything we have been hearing and he was definitely not the source of our earlier rumors. He says, “Currently at the all night screening at the bfi IMAX, London of lotr. Ian McKellan dropped by earlier and revealed he is currently re-Reading the hobbit and is expecting to be back in NZ in march. App(arently) he also knows who they’re getting to play Bilbo & that he should be seeing the script within the next week. Well it’s 3:30am – TTT is about to begin so bye!”

SDCC: Jackson Update on the Hobbit

At the San Diego Comic Con on Saturday, Peter Jackson provided an update on The Hobbit from District 9 panel specifically addressing rumors that a casting announcement for Bilbo Baggins was going to be made. The script is about three weeks away from being delivered and at least three months before can begin the casting process. The plan remains to do the Hobbit in two parts making use of additional information in the later Lord of the Rings volumes to create a more "epic" story.

Hobbit Script Update

Peter Jackson has provided an update to the status of the Hobbit script while at the San Diego Comic-Con to promote his upcoming movie District 9 according to Hero Complex.

He's still working on the script for the first of the two "Hobbit" films (set to be directed by Guillermo del Toro), which is about three weeks away from being delivered to the studio. He said despite the fact that people assume the film is greenlighted, "that's not really true. It has to be shot for a particular budget and the studio has to be comfortable with that and they have to like the script. So, there is a process involved and we're about to go into that process. Once we've got the script, we can then budget and schedule it and at that point we can go out and cast the movie. Everybody thinks we're casting it secretly and we're talking to people, which is not true either. We haven't offered any actor a role yet because they always ask to see the script, obviously, and you can't offer an actor a role until you've got dates that you can tell them when you need them. We kind of have to get the script down so the machinery can roll. The casting will begin in a couple of months."

For more on Jackson's other projects, click here.

Del Toro Reveals New Hobbit Details

In an interview with BBC Radio's Simon Mayo Show, The Hobbit Director Guillermo del Toro provided the first meaningful update about the production. Del Toro that a Andy Serkis (Gollum), Ian McKellen (Gandalf), and Hugo Weaving (Elrond) will all reprise their Lord of the Rings Trilogy roles. He also provided a few plot details.

the film will take some liberties with sub-plot material that is briefly discussed in the book. Most notably among this, is Gandalf's departure from Bilbo and the Dwarves to confer with The White Council in Dol Guldur on dealing with an entity called the Necromancer (which later turns out to be Sauron himself.) We've always suspected this based on some statements, but this time, the intention to document Gandalf's quest (which is not covered greatly in the book) was articulated clearly. This is an excellent move, and should make the "Hobbit to Lord of the Rings" transition seem all the more smooth. Hopefully, it will be done in such a way that even casual audiences will be able to make the connection.

Finally, regarding Smaug the Dragon, del Toro revealed that after eight whole months of design work, they have only just “cracked the basic engineering.” It is anticipated that another six or seven months of application will be needed before the great flying, fire-breathing, gold smuggler will be in any kind of presentable form. (Holy crap, he should look AMAZING!)

Guillermo Rules Out Bridge Film

Took over a month but finally some The Hobbit news. Well sort of since it’s just a repeat that the Hobbit films will not be a bridge film to the Lord of the Rings trilogy as originally planned. As told to MTV, del Toro has added additional story points to the films and is currently deciding on what the end point fill be for the first movie. Also below is a video of the interview broken up into five segments, the first two he talks about his novel "The Strain" and the next two after is about The Hobbit. Already over three hundred pieces of art has been generated as pre-production work continues on the films.

I’m doing only two movies because I felt that that was the best way to service the book,” the director said. “I’m not saying the other notion was not discussed. We discussed it a large degree. But I felt that for me, the two films were the way to go.”

Del Toro explained that the decision to split the book in half stemmed from the sprawling nature of Tolkien’s tome and, he said, the “White Council or the Dol Guldur additions.”

The director has also settled on where exactly the first film will end and the second will begin. “When you read the book, there is only one place to break it really,” he said. “And everybody knows it. It’s been discussed in forums and there’s a lot of people that are right. That’s where it’s going to break. So it’s very simple.

“What we’re doing is because we have the relationship between Bilbo and Thorin and all the dwarves, there is a logical place for that relationship,” del Toro continued. “There is a moment in the book where something is accomplished that allows us to say, ‘Okay, on to the next one after this.’”

Del Toro: "Two Chapters of a Film"

For a while now, the plans for the Hobbit films has been spoken of as two films. One is the adaption of the Hobbit and the other is a "bridge" film that fills the gap between the Hobbit and Fellowship of the Ring. In an interview with if Magazine, director Guillermo del Toro indicates the two movie plan remains but now its evolved into essentially one film with two parts, similar to how the Matrix sequels were executed.

Where are you with THE HOBBIT right now?
Writing every day. Talking to Peter [Jackson]. Emailing. Going to New Zealand back and forth. I really think that the bulk of the hardcore pre-production is going to start in January.

Are you writing two scripts simultaneously?
The way we view it, and I think it was Peter who said, “let’s stop talking about two movies, let’s talk about one story.” I thought “abso-f*cking-lutely.” Then it made sense. I was so worried about this and that. Then all of sudden, seeing it as one narrative, saying, “this is the story” and not only the two movies. When we agreed, “let’s think about the five movies as a single story – a single narrative thread,” it opened up the scope of what we’re doing. You don’t have to try to contain the HOBBIT book in one movie, which I think would be a disservice. People tend to think, “why two movies,” and you go back and take notes of the book. The book you read, is not the book that [you think it is]. The book is such an effortless read and it seems like it goes like a breeze, but there are so many events in THE HOBBIT. Especially if you’re taking into account, ancillary stuff, there’s so much there. It really is barely containable into two movies.

You’re linking it into the first LORD OF THE RINGS movie – I read that the last part of the second film would include material not in the book, but would link it more fully to the first LORD film.
We’re not doing that. That was spoken about early on, as I said, we stopped talking about in terms of a bridge film, it’s a single film. We said, “we’re talking about a ‘film’ and we’re talking about two chapters of a film or two episodes.”

So I guess at this point think of the Lord of the Rings prequel films as The Hobbit part 1 and The Hobbit part 2.

No LOTR Prequel?

Guillermo del Toro at the LA Film Festival yesterday hinted that there is actually a possibility that the Lord of the Ring prequel movie may not even be produced. From Defamer:

"We believe there is a second movie," del Toro said during a discussion at the Majestic Crest. "If there isn't, there will not be. If we find it, we will shoot it, but by God, if we do not find it, we will not shoot it. I am anxious to shoot the book, and I'm willing and able to dedicate myself to shooting the [second film]."

It's trickier than it sounds, though; the second film, which would apparently bridge the gap between The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring, can only draw on the novels to which Jackson holds the rights. The rest of the background or ancillary literature (and there's a lot) is off-limits. "In the four books that are in the domain of the copyright, there are appendices and ideas and things that can be traced without risk," del Toro said. "But I have to be careful not to overstep. We believe there is a way to create this film and make it interesting, but it's too early."

Honestly I am not concerned, the amount of potential money is massive and too hard to ignore, regardless of creative concerns.