Re: EL HOBBIT
Del Toro was right choice for The Hobbit, says Raimi
By David Bentley on Mar 25, 09 06:47 PM
SAM RAIMI, who was on the shortlist of directors for the big-screen remake of The Hobbit, says Guillermo del Toro was a brilliant choice to make the film.
Spider-Man director Raimi told Empire magazine: "I thought that The Hobbit was just a fantastic icon of fantasy literature. I love that book and I'm a giant fan of the Lord of the Rings movies.
"It would have been an excellent job but Peter Jackson is the producer and he chose who he thinks would be the best filmmaker, which is Guillermo del Toro, who I love.
"I think that, sheepishly, he may have made the right decision. Guillermo's such a brilliant filmmaker that I'm dying to see this version. I know it's going to be great.
"I talked with Peter [Jackson] once on the phone but never actually met with him. It never really got to that."
Del Toro and Jackson plan to make a film adaptation of JRR Tolkien's classic and then craft a sequel that bridges the undocumented 59 years between The Hobbit and the first Lord of the Rings movie, Fellowship of the Ring.
The Hobbit sequel would be based upon references and timelines in the literary material; there is no actual Tolkien book that tells the full story of that period.
The Hobbit itself follows the quest of hobbit Bilbo Baggins to win his share of the treasure guarded by the dragon Smaug. Bilbo returns from that quest in year 2942 of the Third Age, and leaves the Shire in 3001 after passing on to Frodo the ring he had obtained in 2941. It's his leaving The Shire that is the start of The Fellowship of the Ring movie, the first of the trilogy helmed by Peter Jackson.
The Hobbit is scheduled for release in December 2011, and the second film in December 2012.