In case you hadn't heard, there's a Hobbit film due out for 2012.
This is old news, but still worth getting excited about. If I had a buddy who was in a coma for the past ten years and who upon waking wanted to know what the most important movies of the 2000s were, I'd show him the Lord of the Rings trilogy first. The LOTR films were, at least in my mind, the biggest movie event of the last decade. Then again, it doesn't hurt that I'm a huge fan of both the books and the films (they are two different entities, for those of you who haven't read 'em). But fans and non-fans alike loved these movies, because they were awesome. Great acting, great effects, great costumes, great sets.
So an incoming Hobbit film should be a source for excitment. After all, The Hobbit was the original story. Tolkien wrote Lord of the Rings later, as a kind of greatly-expanding sequel. Characters like Gollum and Gandalf are still around. And for those confused by the elaborate and intricate scope of the other films, The Hobbit is simpler and should make for a much more straightforward, coherent watch. And hey...more Lord of the Rings! Should be good enough for anyone.
That said, not everything is looking rosy. The biggest issues of concern are that the original director, Peter Jackson, isn't directing. Wtf? He's producing, sure, but due to a number of legal squibbles surrounding the original trilogy, he didn't sign up to direct. Something about never directing for New Line again. And switching directors mid-franchise seldom works out (X-Men 3?).
Things that don't look good
• New Director: Guillermo Del Toro
At first glance, Del Toro seems like a decent choice. He hasn't done much, but Pan's Labyrinth was good, and it was a fantasy movie, and his Hellboy movies incorporate some fantasy elements.
But wait! The guy doesn't even like Lord of the Rings! Check this interview out from 2006:
Interviewer: I couldn't help thinking of Tolkien and C.S. Lewis in this film. Were you a fan of those books?
Del Toro: I was never into heroic fantasy. At all. I don't like little guys and dragons, hairy feet, hobbits -- I've never been into that at all. I don't like sword and sorcery, I hate all that stuff.
Hey, what? Who the fuck hired this guy? Sure buddy, you hate Lord of the Rings...because Hellboy was better. Oh, come on.
So I think having a director that doesn't actually like Tolkien qualifies as an area of concern. Of course, after he was attached, he changed his song quickly and started talking about how when he re-read the books, he really liked them, blah blah blah, bullshit bullshit. The internet doesn't forget, my friend.
• Two Movies
Actually, at first this looked sweet. When they originally announced The Hobbit, they mentioned a mysterious "second film" that would cover "other events" and lead into Fellowship. Later, Jackson leaked a little of what this second film was going to be...
Jackson, 2006: "There [are] a lot of sections [in The Hobbit] in which a character like Gandalf disappears for a while. From memory – I mean, I haven't read it for a while now – but I think he references going off to meet with the White Council, who are actually characters like Galadriel and Saruman and people who we see in Lord of the Rings. He mysteriously vanishes for a while and then comes back, but we don't really know what goes on."
I'll tell you what's going on. In the background of The Hobbit, The White Council (like he said, Gandalf, Saruman, Elrond, Galadriel, Cirdan) launches an attack on a shadowy figure calling himself The Necromancer, who has set up shop in Mirkwood (the woods Legolas is from) and has been up to no good. In fact, directly prior to the events of The Hobbit, Gandalf is undercover in the dungeons of the Necromancer trying to find clues of who he really is. Instead of finding out, he discovers an old dwarf, Thrain II, who has a treasure map that shows the location of the lost Arkenstone. Gandalf puts together a party of dwarves to go recover their lost stone, and Bilbo Baggins (the uncle of Frodo Baggins, who gives him the ring in the beginning of Fellowship) gets brought reluctantly along. With one expedition set up, Gandalf reports his findings to the White Council, and they debate over what to do. They decide to attack, and in doing so discover that The Necromancer is actually SAURON, or some shadow of him. They expel him, but know that another war is coming.
So basically, we get all the coolest characters (and some of the best acting talent) from LOTR together in a big council: Gandalf played by Ian McKellan, Elrond by Hugo Weaving, Saruman by Christopher Lee, Galadriel by Cate Blanchett, and Cirdan the Shipwright (that old guy at Grey Havens at the very very end of Return of the King) played by a total nobody.
And this council decides to wage wizard war on some mysterious wooded fortress inhabited by the Dark Lord Sauron, likely slaying large numbers of goblins and wolves in doing so, probably ended by a climactic boss battle. That sounds, well, awesome. I'd go see that.
Unfortunately, more recent comments suggest that instead of making this awesome second movie, they're just going to split The Hobbit into two parts. What a downer. First of all, The Hobbit can fit into one movie. It's not that long. Second, I want to watch that other movie.
Recent comments suggest that they just place these events alongside The Hobbit. I don't really know where a natural "split" in the Hobbit would be though. It's got one clear story arc. Let's hope they figure it out.
• Talking Animals
Not sure what to make of this, but Del Toro has made some odd comments about wanting more talking animals in the film. His rationale is reasonable: at the end, the dragon Smaug can talk, so why can't other animals talk? The same goes for the spiders that capture the dwarves in Mirkwood Forest; they chat pretty freely. So Del Toro reasons, why not have more animals talk?
I guess the obvious answer is, because they don't talk in LOTR? Hopefully we don't get any George-Lucas-style retcon revisions with Sam's pony Bill replying "good-bye Sam" at the entrance to the Mines of Moria.
Inherent continuity troubles
These aren't specific to this production, but to anyone trying to make prequels to Jackon's trilogy.
• The Ring
We all know by now that the ring Bilbo finds in Gollum's cave is The One Ring, but when Tolkien wrote The Hobbit, it wasn't yet. Nope, for the purposes of this book, it's just a ring that grants invisibility. Tolkien decided later that he wanted to expand its importance.
And the ring works a little differently. In LOTR, when Frodo puts the ring on, he sees the Spirit Realm (where there's a big evil red eye, and Nazgul look white), but in The Hobbit, Bilbo just goes invisible without any weird side effects.
Needless to say, this is a shift in tone. If they decide to stay true to the book, they need to downplay the weirdness of the Ring to its original simple magic, but if they want to stay connected to the films, they will need to change its effects to match their portrayal in the trilogy. We'll see.
• Elves
Elves are good guys in LOTR, but they're bastards in The Hobbit. They trick and tie up the dwarves, leaving it to invisible-Bilbo to spring them out of their dungeons. And when they show up at the end, they're bastards again. It's not a problem or anything, but for folks who have only seen the film, having the pure and noble elves be total dicks is going to feel weird.
• Wolves
This is another tone piece, but Del Toro has already said that he's going to be revising the way the wolves looked in LOTR. Not a major point, but he said that Wargs need to be changed because "the classical incarnation of the demonic wolf in Nordic mythology is not a hyena-shaped creature." In other words, I don't like how you did it, Jackson. I'm kinda with you on that one, GDT, that whole Warg scene was written in to Two Towers and was pretty extraneous.
Things that look good
Ok, enough griping. There's still plenty to be excited about.
• Returning actors
The films have only three definite returners so far:
1. Gandalf (Ian McKellan) is back. Thank god. This is pretty much reason enough to go see it.
2. Gollum (Andy Serkis) is back. Awesome. They also stated that they will be using the same technology, which is fine because it looks fine.
3. Elrond (Hugo Weaving) is back. And if they show the Mirkwood siege, we could even see him fight.
There's room for some other returners though:
1. Since both The Hobbit and the other movie visit Mirkwood at a time when Legolas would be living there, there's no reason they couldn't invite Orlando Bloom back for a cameo. Note that Elves don't age, so that's not an issue.
2. Gimli isn't around yet, but he's the son of Gloin, who is one of the twelves dwarves, so casting John Rhys-Davies with different makeup isn't out of the question.
3. Ian Holm plays Bilbo in LOTR. That role is a relatively small one, whereas Bilbo's role in The Hobbit is central/title character, so my guess with Hollywood is that they wouldn't use the same guy. However, Del Toro said he wanted every actor to reprise their role, including Ian Holm, so maybe it'll happen. I would like that fine. Not only would it connect the two movies better, but honestly, Holm did a great job. Though I might spend half the movie in fear of Bilbo making that evil face again like in Fellowship.
4. Christopher Lee as Saruman. Might not happen. Not only does Saruman not appear in The Hobbit, but Lee has already stated that he didn't want to return to NZ again, due to health reasons. Which is too bad, because if they DO show the White Council side of the story, Saruman would have a complicated role. At that point, he's partly corrupted...but not all the way. This would be a great chance to show the corruption in process; a nice nuanced piece for a fantastic actor.
• Smaug
At the end of the story (spoilers), they encounter a dragon called Smaug who has the Arkenstone in his possession. After what this special effects team did with the Balrog, there's plenty of reason to be excited about their portrayal of a dragon. Not only that, Del Toro has a thing for dragons which makes me believe he's not going to screw it up. His favorite portrayal of dragons is apparently Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty, which is honestly pretty cool.
• Spectral Motion
Del Toro wants to put some animatronics in there, which is fine with me. The animatronics sequences in Hellboy were my favorite part of the films. (What to animate? Probably the trolls and the spiders.)
• Beorn
Beorn is one of my favorite Tolkien characters, and if you don't know who he is, I won't spoil it. I can't wait for a modern portrayal.
That's all I've got. If that's not enough, I recommend theonering.net for rabid, hyper-vigilant Hobbit news, including casting rumors both founded and unfounded. And for a fantastic FAQ
Thanks to anyone who slogged through all of it, and thanks to Axe for letting me hijack his blog for a while. Petrelli out.
