Guillermo Del Toro Speaks More On His Departure From THE HOBBIT

To everyone’s shock (and horror), it was just one week ago (May 30th) when TheOneRing.net reported that Guillermo Del Toro would be vacating THE HOBBIT’s director chair.

“In light of ongoing delays in the setting of a start date for filming THE HOBBIT, I am faced with the hardest decision of my life. After nearly two years of living, breathing and designing a world as rich as Tolkien’s Middle Earth, I must, with great regret, take leave from helming these wonderful pictures. I remain grateful to Peter, Fran and Philippa Boyens, New Line and Warner Brothers and to all my crew in New Zealand. I’ve been privileged to work in one of the greatest countries on earth with some of the best people ever in our craft and my life will be forever changed. The blessings have been plenty, but the mounting pressures of conflicting schedules have overwhelmed the time slot originally allocated for the project. Both as a co-writer and as a director, I wlsh the production nothing but the very best of luck and I will be first in line to see the finished product. I remain an ally to it and its makers, present and future, and fully support a smooth transition to a new director”.

Well on Sunday (June 6), Del Toro definitely had more to say on all the brouhaha over on the TheOneRing.net’s message boards:

My commitment to the project demanded enormous sacrifices both in personal and professional terms. The consequences of which will ripple for years. I relocated my entire life and family to New Zealand and first came on board in 2008. So – while the cited delays, contractual complexities or obstacles, cannot be attributed to a single event or entity – you will simply have to believe that they were of sufficient complexity and severity to lead to the current situation. Trust me on this, leaving NZ and the Hobbit crew is extremely painful. As stated before- a wealth of designs, animatics, boards and sculptures is left behind representing accurately my ideas for Mirkwood, Spiders, Wargs, Stone Trolls, etc, etc and everyone (PJ, FW, PB and myself) has the same goal in mind: to try and ensure the best possible transition of the movie to a new director.

Del Toro is obviously heart-broken when he says:

Perhaps even sooner than we may anticipate we will all look at the finished film and then – I will tear up whenever I recognize a set or a creature or a quirk created under my supervision. Everyone on these boards will get two movies. Me? I will be watching filmic family albums. Photos of my children from far away. I hope you will understand how delicate the subject is for me.

He concluded with:

I am not here, however, to provide a blow-by-blow of what happened, but to assure you, as I have, that it has been the toughest situation of my life…Beyond that- I am simply no longer an official voice for these projects. Be good, be well- and I invite you all to follow me into the next phase of my filmmaking journey.

Sincerely

GDT

I feel for the guy. I really do. But as Del Toro reiterated, it was time to go and he wished the crew of THE HOBBIT heartfelt success. In the meantime, Peter Jackson and the studio are still looking for a replacement. Jackson told Stuff.co.nz last week that he would even consider directing the films himself to protect Warner Bros. investment and thus saving the local economy of Wellington, New Zealand millions of dollars.

Jackson said November was now the earliest start date for shooting, but it depended on finding the right director. “I just don’t know now until we get a new director. The key thing is that we don’t intend to shut the project down. We don’t intend to let this affect the progress. Everybody, including the studio, wants to see things carry on as per normal. The idea is to make it as smooth a transition as we can.”

Seems like we’ll have to wait a little longer to return to Middle Earth to follow Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf, and the 13 dwarves on their quest to find the treasure guarded by the evil dragon Smaug. Produced by both New Line Cinema and MGM, as of right now THE HOBBIT films have release dates of December 2012 and December 2013.