Del Toro on board for “The Hobbit”
Get out your traveling cloak and cue Gandalf’s fireworks: After extended negotiations, “Pan’s Labrinyth” helmer Guillermo del Toro has sealed the deal to direct “The Hobbit” and its sequel for New Line and MGM, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The Mexican native, who lives in Los Angeles, will move to New Zealand for the next four years to work with “The Lord of the Rings” mastermind Peter Jackson, who is executive producing “The Hobbit” films, and his Wingnut and WETA production teams.
As Jackson did with the “LOTR” trilogy, Del Toro will direct the two films back to back. The first will be tell J.R.R. Tolkien’s tale of Bilbo Baggins from the book ”The Hobbit,” while the sequel will cover the 60-year period between “The Hobbit” and “The Fellowship of the Ring,” the first book in the “LOTR” trilogy.
Del Toro’s next movie, “Hellboy 2: The Golden Army,” will be released in theaters July 11. It is his follow-up to the 2004 hit “Hellboy,” based on the comic books by Mike Mignola.
-BAM
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When I think of the directors that could have been hired for this that would have been TOTALLY wrong for it, I breathed a sigh of relief. Also, I’m looking forward to the del Toro/Jackson interviews. Now those are a couple of extreme accents!