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Last weekend Peter Jackson and Spanish film-maker Guillermo del Toro hosted a webchat about the forthcoming Hobbit movies which Jackson is executive producing and del Toro is directing.
They - and Fran Walsh and Phillipa Boyens - will be writing the films for rest of the year until
pre-production starts in 2009 and the back-to-back shooting starts the following year. The first film is due for release in December 2011, the second a year later.
The pair discussed 20 or so questions - honed from the 4000 posted by 6000 or so fans. Some wanted to know if the production would go anywhere else in the world. But Jackson said Middle-earth would stay in New Zealand:
"There is nothing yet that Tolkien has described that we haven't managed to find in this amazing little country and I expect The Hobbit to be no different.", said Jackson.
Oh, and all going well, it looks like Hobbiton will be returning to Matamata. Here are other edited highlights of the session ...
So how was your first meeting with each other?
PJ: The first time I remember meeting Guillermo was at Bob Shaye's house during a LOTR party. Obviously, at that time we had no concept of what the future held.
GdT: We finished a tray of shrimps together and agreed that New Line should keep hiring round, bearded directors with funny accents.
Peter, what was it about Guillermo that made you feel he was the right guy to continue on the saga of Middle-earth?
PJ: He has respect for fantasy. He understands it, he's not frightened by it. Guillermo also understands character, and how the power of any movie is almost always linked to how closely we empathise with characters within the story. He also has supreme confidence with design and visual effects. So many film-makers are scared of visual effects - which is no crime, but tough if you're doing one of these movies.
Do you intend to play this one by the book - The Hobbit that is - and make it a very light children's tale on film, or do you plan to stick with the much darker treatment in keeping with the LOTR films, particularly the latter ones?
PJ: I personally feel that The Hobbit can, and should have a different tone. The "tone" of these stories shouldn't be defined by the pressure our characters were under in LOTR. The world is a different place at the time of the Hobbit. The shadow is not so dark.
Was it intentional to release the first Hobbit film on the 10-year anniversary of LOTR?
PJ: No this is the first time I have actually thought about it ... that is nice. I will claim credit for the idea from this day forward.
What will be the title for the second movie?
GdT: Too early - but not "H2 Electric Boogaloo". That has been discarded.
How important is it to you to create overall consistency between Peter's LOTR films and Guillermo's in terms of the actors, look and feel, scenery, score, effects - is your aim to have them stand on their own or sync-up with the trilogy?
GdT: The world must feel like the same world. The aspect ratio, music, established costume and production design are trademarks but I would love to bring a lot of new flavours to the table. The Hobbit is, in essence, an overture to a massive symphonic work, so main themes are reprised but new modulations and new colours are introduced, thematically and texturally.
PJ: I love Guillermo's symphonic allusion. Film Two is perfect to dramatise the shift in Middle-earth that propels us into the dark days of LOTR. If LOTR is World War I, then The Hobbit is like an Edwardian adventure tale, set in the days before the world notices the looming storm clouds.
When del Toro has acknowledged his disdain for hobbits and "sword and sandals" fantasy, how can he do justice to the movie? Why can't Peter direct it himself after The Lovely Bones?
GdT: [Preceded by lengthy explanation of his enthusiasm for fantasy and sci-fi and the thematic similarities between his own Pan's Labyrinth and The Hobbit]. I love it enough to give it half a decade of my life and move half a world away to do it.
PJ: The idea of going back in and essentially competing against my own movies seemed to be an unsatisfying way to spend the next five years. Being a writer and producer is the perfect way for me to work here. Guillermo has the ultimate responsibility of directing, and for him it's easier to make these movies feel different simply because he's not me.
For a full transcript go to: wetanz.com