Your early morning Hobbit update: del Toro "99% probability"

[ourdramaqueen]

For completion's sake, one TORn article from yesterday:

http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2008/01/29/28328-so-is-it-del-toro-or-what/

So is it Del Toro or What?
January 29th, 2008 by Calisuri | Discuss

There is a lot of buzz in the Tolkien community with the news yesterday that Del Toro was in ‘talks’ to direct the two ‘Hobbit’ films. Unfortunately a majority of the buzz is a case of bad reporting - as many have taken the title from the Hollywood Reporter article (’Del Toro doubles up for ‘Hobbit”) as an official announcement. However, read the first sentence and we see he is not confirmed, only in ‘talks.’ Now another rumor has surfaced that Del Toro has verbally confirmed he will be directing both films during a screening of his new movie ‘The Orphanage.’ This news has surfaced on a French Tolkien website, which may be another case of lost in translation! So is it Del Toro or What? We don’t know - but we’re working hard to find out. If anything has been officially said by Del Toro we probably can expect announcement pretty soon! [Original Hollywood Reporter Article] [First Del Toro Rumor] [More Confirmation Rumors]


And this one was posted a few hours ago - watch the video at the link:

http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2008/01/29/28329-introducing-the-director-of-the-hobbit/

“Guillermo will direct ‘The Hobbit’…” January 29th, 2008 by Calisuri | Discuss

The following YouTube video confirms that Guillermo Del Toro will be directing ‘The Hobbit’ films. UPDATE We have an additional inside source which says that the deal is NOT signed yet, however it has a 99% probability of happening. The parties are agreed and we should expect an official announcement after the WGA (Writer’s Guild of America) Strike.

See below for the video - The important part starts around :40

Female Translator: Today it is our pleasure to announce something that everyone was hoping for, Guillermo will direct ‘The Hobbit’

(Clapping) 

Female Translator: And he will give a small role to (the Spanish translator)





I guess congratulations are in order to Mr. del Toro! He'll no doubt be under close (even closer) scrutiny from the moment this will be officially announced... :)

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/saura_/]

I'm not really sure of how I feel about this. I'm not a terrible fan of Guillermo del Toro :/

[ourdramaqueen.livejournal.com]

It's not that I don't like his films per se - Hellboy was good and so was Blade II, and I liked Pan's Labyrinth. However they were all stylised in a fantasy/comic film way, and I always felt LotR had a pretty "naturalistic" look - more like a historical drama than a fantasy. I just hope Guillermo will stay true to that philosophy of PJ's for The Hobbit.

[http://users.livejournal.com/saura_/]

That's what I feel as well. LOTRs felt REAL when Guillermo del Toro's movies feel more like a comic. He said something about following PJ's way of seeing the Middle Earth, yeah?