Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro Hold a 'Hobbit' Online Chat
A massive transcript for you to sink your teeth into
Shane: Will the two movies be shot at the same time?
Guillermo del Toro: The idea is to shoot them "back to back" with a small break to breathe and to reconstruct certain sets and have time to reassess… But a schedule of a year is expected.
Peter Jackson: Hi Shane – Yes the movies will be shot back to back and the shooting of the movie will be driven by which actors are working with us at a given time and what locations we are in. For instance, if we are shooting Hobbiton scenes for Hobbit movies we would also shoot Hobbiton scenes for F2. So during our year of filming we will be shooting both movies at the same time out of sequence.
reel1: Hi, Guys. Was it intentional to release the first Hobbit film on the 10 year anniversary of FOTR?
Peter Jackson: Dear Razor – No this is the first time I have actually thought about it … that is nice I will claim credit for the idea from this day forward.
WETA Host: Peter: During production of the trilogy, there were days where there were several filming crews working simultaneously, with different people directing. Would you ever want to head up a crew and direct the shooting of a scene for a day?
Peter Jackson: Most directors prefer to direct everything themselves. I thought I could on Lord of the Rings, but very quickly found out that the sheer scale prevented it. Instead of a 15 month shoot, we would have shot for 3 years! Guillermo always shoots his own material, so we'll do our best to construct a schedule that allows him to do that. It will depend a lot on how the scripts break down.
I'd happily shot some second unit stuff, anytime Guillermo asked me to. But let's see what happens.
Mr.Movie: Are you already going to New Zealand, Mr. Del Toro?
Guillermo del Toro: Yes- I've been actually been there already -secretly- shh- and will be there shortly after Hellboy II opens and will be getting a LOT of frequent flyer miles in the next few months-
Peter Jackson: Hi Greg – F2 is referring to Film 2.
WETA Host: Guillermo del Toro is an accomplished director. I just wondered whether or not, he will bring more prosthetics, animatronics and physical effects to the film, as he does with such films as Hellboy and Pan's Labyrinth (which are great films by the way)? Or will WETA Digital still have their work cut out for them with VFX?
Guillermo del Toro: I plan to mix CGI and PHYSICAL in such a way that your eye wonders which is which- keep you mind busy but NEVER allowing for the weaknesses of either tool to take over. Yes, I have, by trial and error, learned that both tools need to be mixed and how much they must be mixed to succeed in creating environments and living creatures. WETA is the lead house, absolutely but we will expand the creature team and beef up the prosthetics team. Imagine a physical creature with a radio controlled muscle / facial system but with partial CGI replacement on the head or mouth, etc and you'll start to get the idea…
Guillermo del Toro: And now for the question…
Vampireta: So how was your first meeting with each other?
Peter Jackson: Hi Vampierta – The first time I remember meeting Guillermo was at Bob Shay's house during a Lord of the Rings party. Obviously at that time we had no concept of what the future held!!
Guillermo del Toro: We finished a tray of shrimps together and agreed that NEW LINE should keep hiring round, bearded directors with funny accents…
WETA Host: Hi there, thanks for giving this opportunity. my question: will Alan Lee and John Howe be on board again? I really admire their work. good luck for this project and have a lot of fun.
Guillermo del Toro: As I said, I had a marvelous lunch with John and Alan in London a few days ago and we all got very excited as we discussed my ideas on Smaug, Mirkwood, etc They are most definitely back!
Peter Jackson: Impossible to imagine it without them!
Trotter_the_Ranger: What will be the title for the second movie?
Guillermo del Toro: Too early- but not "H2 Electric Boogaloo" that has been discarded.
Peter Jackson: Hi Trots – the second movie doesn't have a title yet and probably won't until we write the script. As you will see we have the incredibly boring name Film Two which I assure you will not last for very long. Just bear with us.
WETA Host: Peter, perhaps you could clarify what your role will be in the production of these films: What exactly does an executive producer do? Will you follow that model or "forge your own path?" How will Guillermo's role and your role be different? Do you plan on writing the script again with Fran and Phillippa?
Peter Jackson: Truth is "Executive Producers" do a range of things on movies from a lot to virtually nothing! I see myself being one of a production team. My interest is helping Guillermo make the very best films he can. I love writing and I'm looking forward to that. Guillermo will be writing, along with Fran, Philippa and myself. As a director, I could never direct something I didn't have a hand in writing, and we're not expecting Guillermo to do that either. If the director is part of the writing, it means he was there when the discussions took place, story decisions were made … he knows why things are the way they are, and what they need to achieve. Everything is in a script for a reason, and only by being part of a writing team (or writing it yourself), do you really understand the intention of every beat.
I see my role as being part of that writing team, which will create the blueprint, and then helping Guillermo construct the movie. I want Guillermo to make his movies, and I want to make sure we end up with a 5 movie series that's as good as it can possibly be.
Merlkir: any ideas about the talking wargs? the wargs in hobbit are remarkably different from the "hyena" ones in the Lord of the Rings movies..
Guillermo del Toro: Absolutely: they will be different from the Hyena ones established in the Trilogy- they will be faithful to the creatures in the book and will be redesigned accordingly.
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