Many of us were waiting for the end of the writers’ strike to bring the news that Guillermo del Toro had been officially 100% locked in to direct The Hobbit. We had previously been told the deal was all but complete, but the contracts were just waiting for the end of the strike to be signed. The strike ended this week and the only news to come on The Hobbit is that new litigation from the Tolkien estate might hurt the picture even happening. That’s a step in the wrong direction!
Empire Magazine got the opportunity to talk with del Toro and find out why no big announcement regarding his attachment to the project was happening. It turns out what we’ve been told about his involvement may have been exaggerated slightly. “I wish it was definite, but it isn’t,” del Toro reported. “It’s still in talks, there are still a lot of 'T's to cross and 'I's to dot. It’s certainly not certain yet.”
Because the director isn’t completely locked in yet, he’s not commenting on the current lawsuit between New Line and the Tolkien estate. He’s aware of it, but basically says he’s not going to worry about it until he’s actually part of the project, especially since there’s nothing he can really do about it anyway – a very sensible approach if you ask me.
I’m disappointed to hear that del Toro isn’t lined up the way we were initially led to believe he was, but this still sounds promising. There’s nothing being indicated from del Toro that his directing The Hobbit won’t happen. It’s just not 100% certain yet. It sounds like we’ll all be celebrating, including del Toro, if this does come to fruition though.
