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From TORn:


Guillermo del Toro reaches out to TORn


TheOneRing.net reported here at the end of January that Guillermo del Toro was 99 percent sure to direct “The Hobbit”. Since then the Tolkien Estate filed a lawsuit against New Line Cinema (a copy of which can be found here) and the movie studio has been folded up and put in the pocket of its owner Warner Bros. and its bigger parent Time Warner Inc.

After all the speculation and angst, the director of two “Hellboy” films (the second set for a July 11 release) still seems to be the top choice for director and despite the legal uncertainty, the quiet movements by the key players seem to suggest the film will still be made and sooner rather than later. So in this season of waiting, TORn was finally able to contact the fan-friendly director.

“At this stage anything I say is of no consequence for I am not yet signed to do “The Hobbit.” Negotiations advance but are still ongoing,” he said.

The Mexican born director is busy however researching not only the Hobbit but the greater J.R.R. Tolkien library.

“All I can say is that I am diligently going through all Tolkien material related to Middle-earth but only as a way of bridging a gap in my reading. I still respond the strongest to “The Hobbit,” but as an avid reader of Mythology I find a lot of his other writings fascinating. A perfect Cosmology forged from very eclectic sources,” he said.

He described himself as a bibliophile and his study of Tolkien’s mythology fits in with his passion for myth.

“I bought my first book at age 4 and my last one, last week an original pamphlet edition of Calmet’s (Augustine Calmet) dissertation on Ghosts and vampires from the 18th century.”

The director embraces Internet communities and has his own fan site at www.Deltorofilms.com where he participates and corresponds with fans.

“It is my belief that your community will be a joy to be a part of, whether I do “The Hobbit,” or not,” he said.


Good to see New Line is going ahead with their plans to make this film, and WB is not cowed by the pending lawsuit. If we're lucky, they'll get the thing in the can before legal matters put a stop to the proceedings. Cross your fingers!

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Kristin Thompson, author of The Frodo Franchise, has blogged about the Tolkien Estate suit HERE. Take a look. It's a more detailed account of what's going on, and raises some interesting questions. Seems like nobody is quite sure just what New Line owes them on, if anything, and how much they owe, if anything.

I still contend that this is far more about snatching the rights back then about any money. Tolkien's heirs have never liked the idea of anything being made from JRRT's books, and this is their chance to stop it all. No matter how sneaky New Line might look, that is something I think all fans should be very worried about.

Unless you're the sort of purist who agrees with them, that is. But I don't imagine there are any of THEM on my f-list.

Thank the gods that Hobbit-3D rumor is false. That would have been a monumentally stupid idea.