《霍比特人》面临停拍

《霍比特人》面临停拍
2008年05月28日 星期三 19:14

[img=http://blogs.coventrytelegraph.net/thegeekfiles/hobbit.jpg]hobbit.jpg[/img] 新浪网：       顶着“指环王前传”的招牌，《霍比特人》自筹拍以来就招来不少风浪。昨日，“指环王”系列小说原著JRR·托尔金的儿子、现年83岁的克里斯托弗·托尔金宣布，将对制片方新线公司提出控诉，以制止影片拍摄，理由是“公司至今仍拖欠他8000万英镑未付”。而法院将于6月6日审理此案，托尔金的律师称其有权力终止合约，这直接导致《霍比特人》面临停拍危机。 http://blogs.coventrytelegraph.net/thegeekfiles/2008/05/guillermo-del-toro-director-of.html： GUILLERMO DEL TORO, director of the The Hobbit, has spoken to fans about the project, along with its executive producer Peter Jackson - just days before a court hearing could stop the movie being made. Del Toro and Jackson plan to make a film adaptation of JRR Tolkien's classic and then craft a sequel that bridges the 59 years between The Hobbit and the first Lord of the Rings movie, Fellowship of the Ring. The Hobbit sequel would be based upon references and timelines in the literary material; there is no actual Tolkien book that tells the full story of that period. The Hobbit itself follows the quest of hobbit Bilbo Baggins to win his share of the treasure guarded by the dragon Smaug. Bilbo returns from that quest in year 2942 of the Third Age, and leaves the Shire in 3001 after passing on to Frodo the ring he had obtained in 2941. It's his leaving The Shire that is the start of The Fellowship of the Ring movie, the first of the trilogy helmed by Peter Jackson. But the films face a new foe if Tolkien's son Christopher has his way at a court hearing in the US on June 6. It's been reported that Christopher Tolkien is seeking to terminate the film rights to The Hobbit in a dispute with the studios over earnings. He says the Tolkien family is owed £80million from a deal for 7.9% of the Rings trilogy profits. [img=http://blogs.coventrytelegraph.net/thegeekfiles/aragorn.jpg]aragorn.jpg[/img]If the films do go ahead, Ian McKellen would reprise his role as Gandalf, and it's understood that Andy Serkis would return as Gollum and that Viggo Mortenson would come back as Aragorn (right), a character who does not appear in the original Hobbit story published in 1937. Ian Holm, who played Bilbo Baggins in the Lord of the Rings films, is in line to narrate. Liv Tyler said she would reprise her role as Arwen if asked. In an online Q&A on Movieweb, Jackson says filming will take place entirely in New Zealand which is the 'perfect Middle Earth.' Jackson said: "At this point in time the plan is to write for the rest of this year and start early conceptual designs. 2009 will be dedicated to pre-production on both movies and 2010 will be the year we shoot both films back to back. Post production follows one film at a time with The Hobbit being released December 2011, and the second film in December 2012. That is the schedule in about as much detail as we have ourselves at the moment." Asked which of the actors from Lord Of The Rings will be back to reprise their roles in The Hobbit and its companion film, Del Toro (who's also directing this summer's Hellboy sequel) said: "Obviously, at this stage, the second film is still being figured out - so the actors that have been approached may or not have appeared in The Hobbit as a literary work but still may appear in the second film as it "blends" into the Trilogy and expands. Therefore what can be said is: Unequivocally, every single actor that originated a role in the Trilogy will be asked to participate and reprise it. If health, availability or willingness become obstacles - and only in that case - recasting would be considered." Jackson added: "Like Guillermo says, apart from extreme circumstances, we would never recast a character who appeared in the Lord Of The Rings trilogy. You can read The Hobbit and pretty much see which characters play a part. The unknown facter is Film Two, which we are still developing. If we wished to write one of the Lord Of The Rings characters into the narrative of Film Two, we would only do that with that actors blessing, and willingess to take part. Otherwise we'd take the writing in another direction." He added: "No casting has commenced and won't until the scripts are written. We have had chats with one or two of the Lord Of The Rings actors however but the casting will be driven largely by the writing and it is impossible to cast 13 dwarves without knowing their personality and characters. We anticipate we won't be in serious casting mode for these movies until well into next year." Asked why Guillermo del Toro was the right choice, Jackson said: "He has respect for fantasy. He understands it, he's not frightened by it. Guillermo also understands character, and how the power of any movie is almost always linked to how closely we empathize with characters within the story. His work shows great care and love for the main characters he creates. He also has supreme confidence with design, and visual effects. So many film makers are scared of visual effects - which is no crime, but tough if you're doing one of these movies! "If we disagree, the director has to win, because you should never force a director to shoot something they don't believe in. But we're both reasonably practical and ego-free, and I believe that if we disagree, we both have the ability to express our differing theories - state our case, like lawyers - and between us, work out what's best for the movie." [img=http://blogs.coventrytelegraph.net/thegeekfiles/hobbit2.jpg]hobbit2.jpg[/img]The plan is to rebuild Hobbiton - the hobbits' village - bigger and even better than it was in Lord Of The Rings in exactly the same location, he said. And Jackson said they were working on a Blu-ray release of the Lord Of The Rings trilogy with Warner Bros but was not sure when it would be released. It won't be this year, he said. Asked about the importance of consistency between Peter's Lord Of The Rings films and Guillermo's movies - in terms of the actors, look and feel, scenery, score, effects - Del Toro said: "I believe that it's a little bit of both- the world must feel like the same world. The aspect ratio, music, essential established costume and production design trademarks but I would love to bring a lot of new flavours to the table. The Hobbit is, in essence, an overture to a massive symphonic work so main themes are reprised but new modulations and new colors are introduced, thematically and texturally. "The idea is to find a compelling way to join The Hobbit and Fellowship and enhance the five films both visually and in their cosmology. There's omissions and material enough in the available, licensed material to attempt this. The agreement is, however, that the second film must be relevant and emotionally strong enough to be brought to life but that we must try and contain The Hobbit in a single film." Responding to that same question, Jackson added: "I love Guillermo's symphonic allusion. The "overture" can have a different flavour, a different texture, yet be a carefully crafted introduction to what's to follow. Film Two is perfect to dramatise the shift in Middle-Earth that propels us into the dark days of Lord Of The Rings. If Lord Of The Rings is World War One, then The Hobbit is like an Edwardian adventure tale, set in the days before world notices the looming storm clouds."