On Tuesday, Guillermo Del Toro spoke with MTV News and revealed a little bit about the current status of The Hobbit films and what stories they may encompass.
In discussing the writing process, Del Toro explained that the four writers (including himself) occasionally meet or video-conference for days at a time, then each writer is given a large section to write. They then trade what each has been working on and give input on each other’s work. I imagine that must get messy if each person has a different writing style or a conflicting image of how the screenplay should play out.
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Next, Del Toro discussed how the two films will work together and he emphasizes the point that him and the creative team behind the script-writing process (including Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens) have decided that it’s not two movies, it’s one large story separated into volumes. With that in mind, they are able to better picture the story as one big well-flowing adventure.
“We don’t even call it the bridge movie, we just call it ‘The Movie.’ And this is great. When we found what reverberated, and we found it in one of our virtual meetings - we understood. It’s a movie.”
Originally, the plan involved Del Toro working on the second film with Jackson and friends focusing on the first. With the new process, they all work together on each movie. This may slow the overall script-writing process a little, but it will certainly help fine-tune the story and make it flow better.
“We all agree that if we do our job right, it should all feel like a continuous journey. That’s what we’re striving for….You should see a movie that’s five pictures long. If we do our job right, you put in ‘The Hobbit’ and you wind up watching the entire Pentology!”
The most interesting bit of information is in regards to how the novel will be separated amongst the two films. Guillermo revealed that in the first film, Smaug dies and that we could all draw our own conclusions from that. In the book, there are 19 chapters and that occurs in the 14th. Assuming that the first episode will end at that event, that leaves only a few chapters left for the second film and plenty of screentime devoted to setting up the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Lastly, Del Toro said that the writing is going very well so far and if things stay on course, the entire script for The Hobbit will be done by the end of the year where they will then move on to the budgeting process.
I can’t wait for these films to come out. In fact, I can’t even wait just for casting announcements, let alone the first teaser to come out! I hope so much to see the second film include characters (and the actors) from Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. Although there have been no confirmations as of yet, it’s widely believed that Ian McKellen and Andy Serkis are up for returning to their roles - this is absolutely necessary in my opinion. In addition to this, a few weeks ago Viggo Mortensen revealed that he’d not been contacted yet but it seems he’d be up for returning as Aragorn, given the chance. That’s another must for me.
Can you just imagine a scene with Sean Bean in full Boromir costume being sent from Gondor to the Council of Elrond to ask for support for Minas Tirith?! I’m sold. I wonder what the chances of that scene actually happening are, heh.
How excited are you for The Hobbit? What and more importantly, who do you want to see making return appearances in the second Hobbit film?
The first of The Hobbit films is due out in December, 2011 and the second in December, 2012.
Source: MTV
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22 Comments
You know what? The idea of Boromir being in the second movie was something I never thought of. That does excite me as I think Bean nailed the part Boromir and it would be good to have him back.
I am just glad to get a better idea of what the bridge movie will entail.
I wonder what the title of second film wil be?
hobbitses or filthy hobbitses
But in all seriousness, that’s a pretty good question. Would they simply call them volume 1 and 2 or would they make up some name for the second?
“Viggo Mortensen revealed that he’d not been contacted yet but it seems he’d be up for returning as Aragorn, given the chance. That’s another must for me.”
The only trouble is they ruined the mysticism and wisdom of Aragorn by reducing his age by 700 years. According to the Lord of the Rings; Aragorn is only 90ish, which would mean he’d be like, eighteen during the hobbit. So if Aragorn did make another appearance in the film, they would have to either, explain away his lying to Ewyon (Which wouldn’t be that bad. :). ), or replace him with a younger actor.
So I’m just curious what they’re going to do about his returning if (according to the Lord of the Rings) he is only 90.
I’d love to see more of Boromir. I know that in the extended versions, which still not got yet, there is more of him. Be great if they could do more on the recent history of Minas Tirith, watching Mordor rise again and trying to hold their borders.
I’m also looking forward to the battle of the five armies. I’ve always loved the image of the dwarf army marching to the standoff.
@Shane/steven the git
How exactly would Boromir return? I agree that Sean Bean did a fantastic job acting, but Boromir is human, with no life giving powers or jewelry. So in the same mindset of my earlier post, how would they transport a forty-ish year old boromir 70 years in the past?
The second film wou’dn’t be entirely being during the hobbit time period.
If it’s true about Smaug’s death being in the first film then that leaves a maximum of 5 chapters only of the novel needed to be cover in the second film.
Meaning the rest of the screentime, hopefully well over an hour, would be setting up the LOTR films. It could take place years later since nothing really happens after Bilbo returns to the shire.
It could simply jump 50 years later to show how all the characters from LOTR go to be where they are - meaning Aragorn, Boromir and the others we could see where they are just prior to LOTR.
It wouldn’t make any sense setting up LOTR 60 or whatever years before it happens, lol. I don’t think they had planned the council of Elrond at the time.
Bilbo had stated he’d have enough of adventures so it’s implied he had done nothing else. Sounds like they’ll have to pick up the historical type Middle Earth books and create a story that’ll link Hobbit to LOTR.
Yes, I assumed the second one would be much closer to the trilogy, otherwise not much of a branch movie.
However certainly agree about Boromir’s limit as a human, and the time line. I wouldn’t be happy if they shoved things about and rewrote rules just to fit.
Either way, it’s exciting to think about!
@Rob Keyes
You know I actually didn’t consider that, that makes a lot more sense. They would have to use some creative make-up on most of them to make them look younger.
Thanks for straitening me out.
Why not make it into one movie of The Hobbit. They should go by the story if they read the book cause Aragorn and Bomamir weren’t in The Hobbit until the Lord Of The Rings series. Still, it’ll be great to see how Bilbo found the ring and face the dragon Smuag at Lonley Mountain.
I find it a little bit insulting to the author to try to do much more than a 15 minute outro bit for LOTR setup, see as there is NO text to go off of for such an endeavor. I don’t think I’d be pleased with people ‘filling in the gaps’ in a story that I wrote. I mean, shouldn’t we assume that the gaps are there for a reason and respect the story? I’ll be looking forward to more news, but if they truly intend to do an hour or more of material that Tolkien never wrote, I will be QUITE upset.
To Alex Green: I heard that for the bridge section between The Hobbit and LOTR, they’re working with various ‘texts’ by Tolkien, but no direct book or novel. So the material that they’re working with is, in fact, from the author.
I’m assuming that the Battle of Five Armies will take up a significant portion of the second film.
Tolkien includes a timeline in the appendices of the Lord of the Rings. There are many actions which can be shown, that lead up to the Fellowship of the Ring and are detailed within. Many of which can contain Aragorn as appearing the same age as the trilogy.
I am REALLY looking forward to these epic films. Wasn’t there one point in the Two Towers extended edition where Eowyn asks Aragorn how old he is because King Theodin remembers from when he was a boy of Aragorn going to battle with Theodin’s father..Aragorn states that he is 87 years old…Sounds a lot to me like he could possibly be included in the Battle of Five Armies..Why not include Legolas as well since he and Aragorn have obvious history together and are OLD friends…Gimli could be there as well since Balin was at the battle and they are cousins…
I think the possibilities are enormous and that Jackson and Del Toro have the fans right where they want them. There is nothing really to draw upon for reference because we are not really sure of what source material they are drawing from…I am sure some part of the Silmarillion
Oops hit the submit button by mistake
To finish my last post…
I am sure some part of the Silmarillion especially Book Five : “Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age” will be a major source for the bridge movie from the end of the Hobbit to the beginning of The Fellowship of the Ring…I found it a little hard to read at times( Silmarillion) but there is a lot of great stuff in there to help complete a script and to be honest I hope Jackson/Del Toro and team use a lot from their own imaginations to complete these films (from a scripted point of view)..They know what the fans and fanboys like and I hope they give us more Stryder, Legolas, Gandalf, Gimli, Bilbo, Mirkwood Elves, Minas Tirith, and Smaug…I can’t wait to see how Del Toro creates that dragon and brings him to life..He is the dragon that started it all in the fantasy genre in my opinion..
I could go on for hours on Tolkien..
Cheers
@ Alex Green
Please read my above posts as there are texts available that somewhat bridge the gap from the Battle of Five Armies to Bilbos eleventy first birthday
Technically, the three volumes of The Lord of the Rings contains about 3 or 4 paragraphs of material concerning anything that happened before the action of The Fellowship of the Ring. Unfortunately, due to the very flat, historical tone of the Silmarillion, I could not get through it, so I’m not sure how much there is on that 60 year span from that source. However, I have it on good authority that some members of the team working on this are quite opposed to going ‘off-text’ in any way, saying that part of what made the previous movies so successful in recreating Tolkien’s vision was that they could always return to the text for inspiration. The magic that really held me in the LotR movies was precisely that - the life that was breathed into the beloved stories of this wonderful wordsmith through the close attention to detail and dedicated faithfulness to the original that was held as a matter of prime importance in the making of the movie adaptations. No matter what Del Toro does with any ‘off-text’ material, it will never hold that magic for me, and I know a great many people that feel exactly the same. Even if there is more to go on from the histories, it doesn’t have the same story-telling flair as the main story, and, looking at his previous work, I don’t believe that Del Toro could carry this through into extra material. Seeing the plans that are forming at this stage, I can say that if the two-movie idea is carried through, I, and anyone with any respect for the greatest fantasy writer of all time, will not be approving their efforts by paying to watch something that was never intended to be a part of the story of The Hobbit.
Oh, and Legolas is from Mirkwood, Aragorn grew up in Rivendell. There is not a particularly close relationship there, preceding the forming of the Fellowship, if you pay close attention to the books.
Well duh..I wasn’t aware that Legolas was from Mirkwood..SHEESH!! You obviously have read the books .. I have read them many times and am well aware of the mythos..I also have finished the Silmarillion several times and I think Book Five:Of Rings of Power and the Third Age will be a major source for the second movie..By-the-way only the first movie will actually be the main story from the Hobbit..
To reply to your comment:
“The magic that really held me in the LotR movies was precisely that - the life that was breathed into the beloved stories of this wonderful wordsmith through the close attention to detail and dedicated faithfulness to the original that was held as a matter of prime importance in the making of the movie adaptations. ”
Peter JAckson didn’t stay completely faithful to Tolkiens books either as he completely changed the Aragorn/Arwen storyline albeit necessarily so…He completely screwed with Faramirs character because in the trilogy he is the only human who resists the call of the ring and he doesn’t drag Frodo and Sam off to Osgiliath to try and give the ring to Denethor.In my opinion Faromir is the most noble character in the trilogy except for Gandalf. Faramir gives them respite and food and sends them on their way. No Tom Bombadil either..When the RingWraiths are chasing Arwen into the forests of Rivendale it is Gandalf’s magic that saves them and not Arwen’s or the elves. There are other differences as well and I could go on but I think you get my point. You shelled out your money to see that trilogy despite Jackson’s “reworking” of some of the most relevant characters and changing the sequence in which things occur(in relation from the film to the books). If your “sources” are correct then you won’t have anything to worry about and they will stay faithful to Tolkien’s work. I suggest you try and finish the Silmarillion and then comment on what they have to work with instead of being on the verge of completely abandoning these films before they are even made..I nkow this stuff as well if not better than you since I am a Tolkien geek of the highest order
Cheers
And Legolas and Aragorn do have history in the mythos. We know from the books and the movie that Legolas has previous knowledge that Stryder is actually Aragorn..the rightful King of Gondor..SOmething that Elrond, Galadriel and Gandalf knew as well..Even Saruman wasn’t aware of this…The history is there whether you want it to be or not..
Cheers
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