Tag: The Hobbit (41-50 of 50)

Jul 21 2010 01:00 PM ET

Comic-Con: Got a question for [big time celeb]? Tweet it to us!

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Comic-con-Peter-JacksonOf the many wondrous things about San Diego Comic-Con — imaginative costumes, drool-inducing glimpses at upcoming movies and TV shows, swag — one of the absolute best begins thusly: “Okay, let’s open it up to questions.” Rarely do fans get such a direct opportunity to interrogate their pop-culture idols, and for those of you who won’t be able to make it to San Diego this week, EW is doing the next best thing.

Both myself and the illustrious Michael Ausiello will be on hand to talk to the cavalcade of famous faces visiting the EW photo studio and video suite at the Hard Rock Hotel San Diego, and this year, we’re asking you – yes, you! — to tweet us your questions for those actors and directors. So if you want to get in on all the Comic-Con action, follow EW on Twitter (our highly imaginative handle is @EW), and starting tomorrow, I’ll be soliciting tweeted questions for the movies guests of that day. (Mr. Ausiello will be handling questions for TV stars via @michaelausiello.) Be sure to include the hashtag #comicconew, so we can see your questions!

To get an idea of what goes on at our EW video suite, after the jump, check out my three-part interview last year with Peter Jackson about several of his upcoming projects. I should stress that this interview was last year — Guillermo Del Toro was still a year away from dropping out of directing The Hobbit, so Jackson’s answers about that project are during far happier times.  READ FULL STORY »

Jul 11 2010 06:22 PM ET

Guillermo del Toro talks 'The Hobbit' and his next project: 'It's a pretty big one'

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It’s been weeks since Guillermo del Toro made the shocking decision to walk away from directing the highly anticipated adaptation of The Hobbit (Peter Jackson is now in negotiations to direct) and the Pan’s Labyrinth director says he’s almost over the disappointment. “It’s the biggest heartbreak of my life professionally,” del Toro tells EW. ”But at the same time, I’m entirely at peace with it.”  The director will be at Comic-Con in a few weeks to preview Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, a horror film he produced and cowrote, starring Katie Holmes and Guy Pearce. “We’re gonna announce a few things at Comic-Con that are surprises,” teases del Toro. “But I’m probably going to announce my next directing project right after Comic-Con. It’s a pretty big one.” Hmmmm. Could this mean that del Toro’s oft-rumored Frankenstein remake is finally coming to fruition?

What do you think del Toro’s next project should be, PopWatchers? Would you like to see him tackle Frankenstein?

Jun 7 2010 03:41 PM ET

'Hobbit': Del Toro's explanation just leaves us with more questions

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deltoroImage Credit: Nick Wall/WireImage.comA week after Guillermo Del Toro’s announcement that he was stepping down from directing The Hobbit, the filmmaker has returned to Lord of the Rings fansite TheOneRing.net to provide a longer explanation for why he left the crazy-high-anticipated project. The problem is that his explanation leaned more on you-gotta-read-between-the-lines vagueness than here’s-what’s-going-down specifics, and like the finale of Lost, it’s left me with as many questions as satisfying answers.

“I’ve developed films for years and I have shot many a movie on location,” Del Toro posted to TheOneRing’s message boards yesterday, “but rarely do you relocate for such a massive amount of time, especially when you have to do major ironclad agreements to put in deep freeze other contractual obligations with multiple studios….So — while the cited delays, contractual complexities or obstacles, cannot be attributed to a single event or entity — you will simply have to believe that they were of sufficient complexity and severity to lead to the current situation. Trust me on this…leaving [New Zealand] and the Hobbit crew is extremely painful.”

While it’s clear that Del Toro became frustrated with having to put all of his other projects “in deep freeze” while working on The Hobbit, I’m left to wonder when he realized that was going to be a problem. READ FULL STORY »

May 31 2010 12:07 AM ET

Why Guillermo del Toro left 'The Hobbit' -- and Peter Jackson will not replace him as director

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Jackson-Hobbit_320.jpg Image Credit: Barry King/FilmMagic.com; Kristian Dowling/WireImage.comOver the last four years, there has scarcely been another project in Hollywood that has been more highly anticipated — and has weathered more back-room corporate wrangling — than The Hobbit. So when filmmaker Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy) announced today that he was dropping out of directing the two films planned for J.R.R. Tolkien’s literary preamble to The Lord of the Rings, the news served as both a shock to fans and yet another possible casualty in the sad ongoing saga of MGM Studios.

As Del Toro (pictured, right) and The Hobbit producer Peter Jackson (pictured, left) explained to LOTR fansite TheOneRing.net, the two Hobbit films are still slated for release in Dec. 2012 and Dec. 2013. And Del Toro is still collaborating on the screenplay with Jackson and his LOTR co-screenwriters Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens. But why did Del Toro walk away from one of the most highly coveted director’s chairs in modern cinema? And who could possibly step in to replace him? (Read on for why it won’t be Peter Jackson.) READ FULL STORY »

Apr 28 2010 06:49 PM ET

'The Hobbit' on track (hopefully) for 2012 release

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deltoroImage Credit: Nick Wall/WireImage.comTolkien aficionados, movie lovers, fans of small, furry-footed humanoids, and nerds of every persuasion have been salivating for years over any tiny morsel of gossip and speculation regarding the big-budget adaptation of The Hobbit. Now, courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter, comes the encouraging news that the first installment of The Hobbit, which Guillermo del Toro is on board to direct, has indeed been scheduled by Warner Bros. for release in December 2012, with the concluding installment to come in December 2013. (Some Hobbit-watchers may have been thrown into a panic earlier when IMAX mistakenly suggested the first movie would come out in 2013.) Now, granted, there is no firm start date for production yet — the screenwriting team, including del Toro and The Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson — is still toiling away on the script. But any Hobbit news is good Hobbit news, right?

What do you think, PopWatchers? You’ve waited this long — can you hold out until 2012?

Dec 29 2009 06:15 PM ET

All right, Mr. del Toro and Mr. Jackson. I'm ready for my 'The Hobbit' close-up!

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OMG guys. I think my head — as well as those attached to the bodies of my fellow Lord of the Rings freakazoids — just exploded, creating a massive blaze that shines brighter than the light of Eärendil. It looks like The Hobbit is officially accepting applications for actors hoping to land roles in the LOTR precursor. But before you prepare to slap on your finest coat of armor and grab your Sting swords, take note of some of the specific guidelines: 1) You have to apply by physical mail (Kids, ask your grandparents about that one), 2) You need to include a casting video, and 3) Though it kills me, New Zealand locals must be hired before overseas actors. Hurumph. So not fair. They already have lush beauty! Since I’m forced to cope with smelly city streets decorated with cigarette butts, why can’t I have one tiny advantage?!

Tell me, PopWatchers: Would you create a casting video to nab a role? And what would you do to grab Guillermo del Toro and Peter Jackson’s attention? I could kiss my giant poster of Frodo and his furry feet, because this girl totally had a crush on the hobbit as a 16-year-old.

Nov 10 2009 08:17 PM ET

Director Guillermo del Toro is a total monster on set! (Or at least he will be in 'The Hobbit')

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Guillermo del Toro is a world class film director, but apparently what he really wants to do is act…in intriciately designed monster make-up. The latest droplet of news dripping out of the seemingly forever-in-the-making world of The Hobbit (tentatively scheduled for a December 2011 release) is that del Toro has cast himself as an extra. But not just any extra–as a scary anonymous monster lurking in the background with other scary anonymous monsters. This, according to a recent interview on German TV. He elaborated in a recent post over at TheOneRing.net: “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 will have a line or two and die quickly.” In other Hobbit news, del Toro recently told the BBC that Ian McKellen (Gandalf), Andy Serkis (Gollum) and Hugo Weaving (Elrond) will reprise their roles from Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings’ trilogy in his movie. You can find a meaty update on the project over at slashfilm.com.

Aug 25 2009 04:25 PM ET

Harry Potter Playing the Hobbit? It'll Never Happen. And thank God!

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You’ve been reading about this, right?  Fans online have said Daniel Radcliffe would be their first choice to play Bilbo Baggins in the upcoming adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkein’s “The Hobbit”—so someone finally asked Radcliffe if he’d be interested. “I’d have to say, ‘Thanks but no thanks,’ not that anyone has asked me,” he said. “Honestly, I don’t think they would want me anyway; it’s just too close.” Yes, it sure is.

Let’s come right out and state for the record that it’s capital-k crazy to imagine the folks making “The Hobbit” (producer Peter Jackson and director Guillermo del Toro) asking Harry Potter to play the Hobbit. It may be  years before moviegoers can believe Radcliffe’s anyone other than Harry P.  If you were launching “The Hobbit” would you want audiences spending the first hour wondering why Bilbo doesn’t have a scar on his forehead?

The movie theaters have become so crowded that franchises need every chance they can to seem different, bigger and better. Also, Tolkein’s middle-earth novels influenced the Harry Potter, and casting Radcliffe would suddenly make ‘The Hobbit’ seem like a lesser book in need of a little Potter magic to work at the box office.

So why are all those fans online saying they want Radcliffe to play Bilbo? Probably because they’re usually asked to pick between him and people like James MacAvoy who’s a zillion times less famous and beloved.  I’d actually love to see MacAvoy (“Atonement,” “Wanted”) play Bilbo. How about you, popwatchers? Who’s your ideal Hobbit? And how would you feel if Radcliffe was cast? Would that be a disaster–or just twice as much as magic?

Jul 17 2009 11:34 PM ET

'The Hobbit': Who should play Bilbo Baggins?

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Hobbit-Bilbo-Radcliffe_l Casting rumors for The Hobbit — oh my! There has been next to no news about Guillermo del Toro's massive two-film project of late, so I will take whatever I can get, even if it's just a rumor. According to the Los Angeles Times, word on the geek street is that the actor portraying Bilbo Baggins may be announced at Comic-Con next week, and three names are in the air (pictured, from left to right): James McAvoy, Daniel Radcliffe, and David Tennant. Let's take a closer look at these choices.

Tennant, 38, is a Scottish actor best known for starring as The Doctor in the current incarnation of the BBC show Doctor Who. McAvoy, 30, is also Scottish and has displayed impressive range by tackling everything from Mr. Tumnus, the gentle faun in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, to the ultraviolent assassin Wesley Gibson in last year's Wanted. And 19-year-old Radcliffe — well, you know him.

These are all surprisingly young choices for a character that's supposed to be 50 years old. (Although that's in hobbit years. So maybe 50 is the equivalent of 30 in human years? Any Tolkien experts want to clarify?) Tennant has an advantage in being the oldest of the three candidates, but he's also the tallest at 6'1". Obviously, trick photography and digital manipulation could shrink his stature to hobbit size, but Del Toro may save himself a lot of grief by simply choosing a shorter star. Radcliffe is listed as 5'6" — having met the actor, that may even be an inch too generous — so he's closer to the right height. But although Radcliffe turns 20 later this July, he's still too young in my mind. More problematic is the concern that many moviegoers won't be able to shake off the idea that Radcliffe is, and always will be, Harry Potter.

That leaves us with McAvoy, who's 5'7", older than Radcliffe, and a splendid actor to boot (he deserved an Oscar nomination for holding his own against Forest Whitaker in The Last King of Scotland). But what do you think, PopWatchers? Put on your casting hats and tell us who should be selected for the role of Bilbo Baggins:

Feb 18 2009 12:30 PM ET

J.R.R. Tolkien's new book: We know the plot (that we made up)!

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Lordoftherings_lWhen the news came down yesterday that a heretofore unpublished book by J.R.R. Tolkien will be hitting bookstores in May, I was a little surprised that I, an avowed Tolkien dilettante, felt a genuine twinge of excitement. Although I have never read Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit, Idid love me Peter Jackson’s LOTR moving pictures something fierce, and I’m quite twitterpated to see what directorGuillermo Del Toro and exec producer Jackson have cooking for The Hobbit. Maybe this new Tolkien story — which the good professor reportedly wrote before spinning his tales of furry-footed Hobbits and ring-seeking dark lords – would prove just as richly filled with fodder for a sweeping fantasy epic that wins oodles of Oscars.

But then I learned the new book’s title: The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun. Ooo. And that it’s written in verse. Eeep. And it’s a retelling of old Norse epics. Yikes. Sounds more like The Legend of the Strenuously Humdrum to me.

Of course, I should know better than to judge a book by its title. (I learned that lesson long ago when I  started watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer only after it had moved to UPN.) So in the spirit of fair-play-that-is-in-no-way-fair-whatsoever, after the jump I’ve completely concocted a plot summary of The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun based solely on its title. To wit:

READ FULL STORY »

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