After the announcement yesterday that Peter Jackson had signed on to executive produce a movie version of The Hobbit, well, we all went a little crazy. The internet was filled with loud sounds of relief and celebration, after all we’ve been years now thinking that New Line wouldn’t be bringing in PJ at all. Things are looking up right? Maybe not as much as we all thought.
Right now Peter is only Executive Producing the film, and apparently that’s all he’s doing. Any hope we might have had that this could lead to him directing and writing as he did on Lord of the Rings has just been dashed by his manager, Ken Kamis, who told EW: “Peter won’t be directing the films because he felt the fans have waited long enough for The Hobbit, it will take the better part of every day of the next four years to write, direct, and produce the two Hobbit films. Given his current obligations to both The Lovely Bones and Tintin, waiting for Peter, Fran [Walsh, Jackson's life/creative partner), and Philippa [Boyens, co-writer/co-producer] to write, direct, and produce The Hobbit would require the fans wait even longer. By serving as executive producers and having approval over all creative elements of both films, Peter can ensure that the films will be made with the same intimacy and care as if they were writing and directing themselves.”
So there you have it. Peter Jackson is not directing The Hobbit… for the fans. Huh? Apparently he has no idea who his fans are. We’re willing to wait man. We don’t care if it takes the next ten years, or even if it never happens. I think just about everyone agrees they’d rather have it done right, and done by you, or not at all. We’re all willing to wait for you to finish these other movies which, let’s face it, none of us care about.
Is anyone else starting to get the vibe that maybe Peter Jackson is involved in this film in name only? I mean, if he’s really that busy, how much involvement is he really going to have in making The Hobbit into a movie? WETA will probably do the effects, and that’s great. Maybe he’ll have some input into who they hire to write and direct it. But that looks like about it. The Hobbit is not going to be a Peter Jackson movie, any more than it was going to be a few days ago, before the announcement that he’d be executive producing. Oh god, what if he tries to force them into hiring Neil Blomkamp to direct it? You know that’s coming next.
Or I suppose, it could end up binge a Guillermo del Toro movie. Sound like a good idea? He’s long been rumored as a possible PJ replacement, and he’s probably pretty high up on the candidates list as far as fans are concerned. Well, if it’s going to happen he says he hasn’t heard anything about it yet. He told EW that he’s heard nothing official. No one has approached him. What’s more, he’s never even read Lord of the Rings… apparently the books were too complicated for him. He’s read The Hobbit and seems to like that, but he can’t wrap his head around LOTR. Guillermo del Toro is great and all, but I’m not sure I want a guy who’s obviously such a fan of fantasy, but can’t seem to make his way through the books that all the fantasy junk he loves comes from, with his mits on one of Tolkien’s masterworks.
This movie needs Peter Jackson, and ironically, now that it has him, it seems less likely than ever that it’ll get him. How’s that for a conundrum?
http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Peter-Jackson-Is-Not-Directing-The-Hobbit-7261.html
