The future of The Hobbit adaptation takes another blow as The One Ring is reporting Guillermo del Toro has dropped off the project and will no longer direct, but will remain as a credited screenwriter. The news doesn’t come as much of a surprise to me and, to be entirely honest, it doesn’t upset me in the slightest. After the Lord of the Rings trilogy a feature adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” just doesn’t seem like a necessary film, especially one del Toro needs to be directing.
Along with the announcement del Toro offered the following statement.
In light of ongoing delays in the setting of a start date for filming The Hobbit, I am faced with the hardest decision of my life. After nearly two years of living, breathing and designing a world as rich as Tolkien’s Middle Earth, I must, with great regret, take leave from helming these wonderful pictures. I remain grateful to Peter, Fran and Philippa Boyens, New Line and Warner Brothers and to all my crew in New Zealand. I’ve been privileged to work in one of the greatest countries on earth with some of the best people ever in our craft and my life will be forever changed. The blessings have been plenty, but the mounting pressures of conflicting schedules have overwhelmed the time slot originally allocated for the project. Both as a co-writer and as a director, I wish the production nothing but the very best of luck and I will be first in line to see the finished product. I remain an ally to it and its makers, present and future, and fully support a smooth transition to a new director.
This news comes on the heels of del Toro shooting down recent rumors the film had been greenlit when he said, “There cannot be any start date until the MGM situation gets resolved because they hold [a] considerable portion of the rights…It’s impossible to make a unilateral decision to give the greenlight to proceed. We really believe that the date will be known after they fact of MGM’s fate. Whether they stay or get supported or get some of the rights.” Del Toro had been attached to the project since September 2008.
Peter Jackson offers up a statement as well, saying he does not “anticipate any delay or disruption to ongoing pre-production work” as a meeting will be had with New Line and Warners to secure a new director for the project. Of course, when the film will actually get made remains in the hands of MGM as they work out their financial struggles. When that will ever clear up is a question no one has the answer to at this moment.
You can read the full statement from Peter Jackson at The One Ring, but for now I ask you if this really bothers you or if you are happy to learn del Toro can now move on to several of the other projects he’s been long attached to? Do you really care The Hobbit remains in flux or would you prefer to just see it go away?
