The Hobbit

While interviewing writer-director Guillermo Del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth) about his upcoming summer sequel Hellboy II: The Golden Army, EW.com chatted him up about his involvement with The Hobbit. While no deal has been set —"We're still in these protracted negotiations," Del Toro says — the fantasy fiend did offer a few promising hints.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: So where do things stand with you directing The Hobbit?
GUILLERMO DEL TORO: There have been a lot of discussions of cast and crew, agreements on the direction the movies would go, and if and when I come on board. But other than that, frankly it's all immaterial until everything is signed and put on paper.

Is the folding of New Line Cinema into Warner Bros. holding things up?
I think it played a role for a few days; being dramatic, I would say a couple of weeks. But the fact is [the movie is] a huge endeavor. It's about a half-a-decade of commitment. It's two movies back-to-back that are massive. So a lot has to be sorted out. All I can say is, creatively we are all in sync and eager to commit and move forward.

Does it look like it's getting any closer?
It does, it does. It's a little bit of a tango, a couple of steps forward, a couple of steps back. But at the very least, I have the illusion of movement. [Laughs]
Do you think it will all be resolved by, say, the summer?
I would hope so. I would be overjoyed if it's sooner that that. If it happened, we would definitely make public the [production] calendar.
Is one of the elements of the negotiation your involvement with the script?
Oh, no no no. That is pretty much sorted out. I will be involved, and so will the original team in some capacity. There's no discussion about that. It's more the planning of it, the calendar, but nothing as major as that.


And by the original team, you mean Lord of the Rings screenwriters Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens — you would be working with them?
I cannot comment on specifics, but yes.

Guillermo del Toro has officially signed on to direct the New Line/MGM's The Hobbit and its sequel, reports Variety.

The widely expected announcement came Thursday afternoon jointly from executive producers Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, New Line president Toby Emmerich, and Mary Parent, newly named chief of MGM's Worldwide Motion Picture Group.

Del Toro's moving to New Zealand for the next four years to work with Jackson and his Wingnut and Weta production teams. He'll direct the two films back to back, with the sequel dealing with the 60-year period between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, the first of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.

New Line is overseeing development and will manage production. Both films are being co-produced and co-financed by New Line Cinema and MGM, with Warner Bros. distributing domestically and MGM handling international.

Del Toro won't leave for New Zealand immediately as he's still in post-production on Universal's "Hellboy II," due out in July.

The official signing of Del Toro comes four months after New Line settled a lawsuit with Jackson over "The Lord of the Rings" and announced that it had agreed with MGM to turn J.R.R. Tolkien's "Hobbit" into two live-action films.

The studios didn't give a start date on production and don't yet have a script. Though no screenplay deal's been set, it's expected that the LOTR scripting team of Jackson, Walsh and Philippa Boyens will collaborate with Del Toro.

With Del Toro blocking out four years for the project, it's likely that the studios are aiming at starting shooting next year and releasing the films in late 2011 and 2012.

Jackson's WETA stages, post-production and visual effects facilities -- built for "The Lord of the Rings" -- will be used for both films. And New Zealand will again be the site of Middle-earth, with the story centering on Bilbo Baggins taking the Ring of Power from Gollum.