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Sunday, May 25, 2008

There And Back Again

The Lord of the Rings trilogy is easily my favorite movie trilogy ever, trumping Indiana Jones and Star Wars. I just love the films to death. I'm probably one of the few people who felt the extended trilogy wasn't long enough, and five endings was five too few for Return of the King.



So needless to say, I'm very, very excited about The Hobbit. For a while it looked like the movie would never get made due to a fallout between Peter Jackson and New Line. But that appears to have been mended, and anyway it doesn't matter because Jackson has passed the baton to Guillermo del Toro, who is perfect for the task. Guillermo has proven with Pan's Labyrinth - well, really with all of his films - that he can manage the task of creating a fully realized fantasy world. Not only does del Toro come to fantasy from a very real place, but damn if he doesn't do monsters better than anyone. And The Hobbit has some of the best monsters, not to mention the greatest dragon in literary history.



Maybe it's too soon to start geeking out over The Hobbit and the second companion film (bridging it to LOTR), but they're already fueling the fire. Here is a transcript from a recent live Q&A with Jackson and del Toro, discussing the new films in the earliest of stages, before pen has even been put to paper. The purpose of the Q&A seems to mostly be about putting fans at ease about a different director being at the helm, as there isn't much information about the films themselves. But del Toro teases about Smaug.

Let the excruciating wait begin!

3 comments:

Sarah said...

Okay, I have to confess that though they are on my list I have never read the Lord of the Rings trilogy. But I love 'The Hobbit.' I have the best memries of my mother reading it to me when I was little, and later reeading it by myself. So geek away!

Sharkbear said...

You should definitely try reading the trilogy at some point. I read it back in middle school and early high school, and it had a big impact on me.

I've never really felt the urge to re-read it, though. I could watch the movies over and over.

Sarah said...

I really want to, but I feel obligated to get through the stack of books I own and still haven't read first. (Who am I kidding? I constantly buy new books, I'll probablly read it by the end of the year.)