The Hobbit

[Mr-K]

Pan's Labyrinth and Hellboy show that the guy can handle fantasy. I think he has the visual flair to handle something as rich as The Hobbit. I think it would be fantastic.

[Shin Johnpv]

Few people thought Jackson, the director of Dead Alive and Bad Taste, had any business directing a three-part, multimillion-dollar fantasy epic. And look how well that turned out.

Why not give Del Toro a shot?

Again I think he's a great director, and I'd love to be proved wrong about the mix, but in the end I don't think I will be. We shall see though.

[BioMechanic]

Unlike LOTR, The Hobbit is a fairy tale Tolkien wrote for his kids. It's full of bright characters singing songs about history and food - heck, even the goblins spend a lot of their time singing. The dwarves aren't surly like Gimli - they sing a long song about their history when they first appear. Bilbo and Gollum have a riddle contest. Sunlight turns hungry, stupid trolls to stone before any combat commences. Bilbo escapes the elves by hiding in a barrel and drifting down a river. During the Battle of Five Armies, Bilbo says "My only hope is to be taken prisoner as quickly as possible."

Not exactly dark stuff.

The creepiest things in the book are the spiders, and they sing too.

Del Toro's films, on the other hand, have always been dark.

I agree with Johnpv that the styles don't match at the moment. It remains to be seen whether Del Toro adapts his style, or the film ends up with the dark tone of the trilogy. I predict the latter.

[BerringerX]

Few people thought Jackson, the director of Dead Alive and Bad Taste, had any business directing a three-part, multimillion-dollar fantasy epic. And look how well that turned out.

Why not give Del Toro a shot?

On that same note, look at the films Raimi made after he wrapped the Evil Dead trilogy... Simple Plan, the two Spider-Man films. A good director is a good director no matter what genre his early work is.

[Rem]

What rock have you been under?

I've seen pretty much all of the guys movies, aside from pans that is. Any he never struck me as anything special. Maybe pans would really change my mind, but cronos put me to sleep.

[AaronChance]

Pan, Hellboy and Devil's Backbone. He's a good director.

But when the fuck is his At The Mountains of Madness movie coming? I've been waiting for that forever.

It was originally canned because the studio thought it would be too expensive. The success of Pan's brought it back to life, but it's not going to see release before 2010.

[Space Pirate Roberts]

Unlike LOTR, The Hobbit is a fairy tale Tolkien wrote for his kids. It's full of bright characters singing songs about history and food - heck, even the goblins spend a lot of their time singing. The dwarves aren't surly like Gimli - they sing a long song about their history when they first appear. Bilbo and Gollum have a riddle contest. Sunlight turns hungry, stupid trolls to stone before any combat commences. Bilbo escapes the elves by hiding in a barrel and drifting down a river. During the Battle of Five Armies, Bilbo says "My only hope is to be taken prisoner as quickly as possible."

Not exactly dark stuff.

The creepiest things in the book are the spiders, and they sing too.

Del Toro's films, on the other hand, have always been dark.

I agree with Johnpv that the styles don't match at the moment. It remains to be seen whether Del Toro adapts his style, or the film ends up with the dark tone of the trilogy. I predict the latter.

Actually, people sing all the time in LotR too, it just didn't make it into the movies (thank god).

[Rumpy]

I guess this means he's not in the running for Deathly Hallows, I really wanted him to direct that.

[Space Pirate Roberts]

And, confirmed.

[Space Pirate Roberts]

Or not.