Over at The One Ring news has broken about Guillermo Del Toro’s departure from The Hobbit production. The director of Pan’s Labyrinth and the Hellboy series will no longer direct, citing ongoing delays in the setting of a start date for filming. Up until now he has been spent two years on pre-production designing the layout of Tolkien’s Middle Earth during the time of The Hobbit.
In a released statement, Guillermo remains grateful to Peter (Jackson), Fran (Walsh) and Philippa Boyens, New Line and Warner Brothers and to all of his crew in New Zealand. Guillermo hasn’t left the movie property entirely as he will still continue to co-write the screenplays with Peter, Fran and Philippa.
Peter Jackson had this to say regarding the announcement:
“We feel very sad to see Guillermo leave the Hobbit, but he has kept us fully in the loop and we understand how the protracted development time on these two films, due to reasons beyond anyone’s control – has compromised his commitment to other long term projects”, says Executive Producer Peter Jackson. “The bottom line is that Guillermo just didn’t feel he could commit six years to living in New Zealand, exclusively making these films, when his original commitment was for three years. Guillermo is one of the most remarkable creative spirits I’ve ever encountered and it has been a complete joy working with him. Guillermo’s strong vision is engrained into the scripts and designs of these two films, which are extremely fortunate to be blessed with his creative DNA”.
The Hobbit is planned as two motion pictures, co-produced by New Line Cinema and MGM. They are scheduled for release in Dec 2012 and Dec 2013.
Well, this is a shocker indeed. But can you blame Guillermo? Untold riches may await the director after helming two mega-fantasy epics. But six years? The director has a number of other projects he could be working on instead of playing the waiting game for filming to start on The Hobbit. Some include new adaptations of Pinocchio, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Frankenstein and The Witches. Though of the ten or so projects he’s attached to, his involvement was likely to be as a writer or producer. However, with his departure of the famed J.R.R. Tolkien novel, it frees him up to direct his own passion projects.