"The Hobbit" - New Line get's the go-ahead to film

[sir clinksalot]

And Bilbo is . . . Tom Cruise? | Hobbit Movie News and Rumors | TheOneRing.net?

This better be somebody's idea of a VERY bad joke.

Of course, the article states that it's not very likely, but still, sent shivers down my spine.

Not only is Tom Cruise too old, even I don't think Peter Jackson is that stupid.

Other rumors have Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) playing Bilbo. That I can see.

Also, Entertainment Weekly is reporting this week that Peter Jackson is closer to stepping into the Directors chair for the two prequels.

Cover Story
'The Hobbit': Peace in Middle-Earth?
Fans have long dreamed ''Lord of the Rings'' director Peter Jackson would tackle J.R.R. Tolkien's ''The Hobbit,'' but a nasty legal battle with New Line Cinema has made it impossible. Now, at last, a cease-fire may be at hand

By Benjamin Svetkey
Last month, in the academic journal Science, paleontologists presented new evidence that they had discovered an overlooked relative of prehistoric man. Officially, they've labeled the species Homo floresiensis — unofficially, they're calling them ''hobbits'' — but by any other name what they've found are the 18,000-year-old fossilized remains of a three-foot-tall hominid with a recessed chin and a brain the size of a Wiffle ball.

As it happens, they're digging for hobbits in Hollywood, too. The kind with a thing for finger bling and a knack for raking in billions at the box office. Up until a few weeks ago, it was looking as if this breed might be extinct as well, wiped out by dark lords more powerful than Sauron himself — entertainment lawyers. But now the legal battle that's kept The Lord of the Rings' prequel, The Hobbit, hung up for years — a bitter feud between Rings director Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema co-chairman Robert Shaye — may finally be nearing resolution. For once, there's reason to be cautiously optimistic. At this writing, no agreements have been announced and details of the negotiations are sketchy (neither New Line nor Jackson's camp would comment to EW on any aspect of this story), but sources close to the talks tell us that they're detecting a lot less frost in the air, and that a deal may be reached that could help usher J.R.R. Tolkien's maiden Middle-earth masterpiece to screens before the end of the decade. ''There has been a détente,'' says one insider. There is now the beginning of a discourse between Peter Jackson and New Line that's running parallel to the litigation proceedings.''

Okay, so it's not the sort of declaration of peace that sets church bells clanging. But it is a vast improvement from just 10 months ago, when Shaye and Jackson duked it out in the press and the studio co-chief angrily told a reporter that the director was too arrogant for his tastes, adding ''I don't want to work with that guy anymore.'' Besides, in Hollywood, any movement on this long-stalled project is major news. It was The Hobbit, after all, that first introduced the world to the lovely and terrifying universe of Middle-earth. The novel is set about 60 years before Lord of the Rings, and for many readers who dove into Tolkien's work as kids, it retains a warmer glow in memory than the daunting and sometimes slow-moving trilogy. Its hero is one Bilbo Baggins, an unassuming homebody hobbit who gets dragooned by one wizard and 13 dwarves into an adventure during which he relieves a dragon named Smaug of an ill-gotten treasure and the wicked Gollum of a certain all-powerful ring. Only a few LOTR cast members make return appearances in this earlier tale. But the story has precisely the same themes — of loyalty and unexpected bravery — that made the Rings series huge. And by huge we mean gargantuan, with each film earning about a billion dollars worldwide between 2001 and 2003, along with 17 Oscars, including ones for Best Director and Best Picture. In Hollywood, in other words, The Hobbit is that rarest of magical creatures — a sure thing.

And that's what makes this lawsuit mess so mystifying. What disagreement over Lord of the Rings could possibly be so important, so personal, that both sides would blow a potential billion dollars in revenue over it?


The irony is that once upon a time, Peter Jackson and Bob Shaye gave each other the greatest gifts of their careers. In 1998, Jackson's bid to make LOTR as three separate films — as opposed to two, or even one — had been rejected by virtually every studio in Hollywood. Shaye and New Line were his last hope, a fact the director camouflaged by calling a couple of times to reschedule the appointment with New Line because of his supposedly hectic itinerary. Jackson and Shaye made for an odd pair: a shy Kiwi perennially in short pants and bare feet, and one of the last real Hollywood mavericks, who was so fond of his sunglasses that Jack Nicholson once took to calling him ''Bobby Shades.'' What Jackson and Shaye did have in common was a kind of fearlessness and an absolute indifference to what other people thought was financial or creative suicide. Shaye greenlit Jackson's dream of a trio of $100 million fantasy films about elves and dwarves. (Not even Harvey Weinstein had the stomach for that; he told Jackson he'd sign on for only two. Because he was an executive producer, he wound up with a cut of the box office anyway.) And Jackson gave Shaye a $3 billion franchise and a new image for his company. New Line, which Shaye launched 40 years ago by discovering such camp classics as Reefer Madness and marketing them out of his apartment, is no longer best known for A Nightmare on Elm Street or Austin Powers.

Finally, an olive branch.


Of course, even if the lawsuit is settled tomorrow, there are still a few details to iron out before The Hobbit could get made. Like a script, for instance, which nobody has actually written. In the past, Jackson has suggested that he would make two films, with the second one filling in the story arc between the end of The Hobbit and the beginning of Rings. Although Tolkien never wrote a novel bridging the eras, he did scatter clues in shorter pieces and epilogues that could form the basis of a screenplay. This is not unprecedented. Jackson, Walsh, and screenwriting partner Philippa Boyens enhanced the Rings love story between Mortensen's and Liv Tyler's characters with material from Tolkien's extensive appendixes.

Still, it's hard to imagine Jackson having time to direct one Hobbit movie, let alone two. He will soon begin shooting his adaptation of the best-selling novel The Lovely Bones in Pennsylvania. And after that, he's scheduled to make Tintin with Steven Spielberg. There's speculation that New Line might offer him a deal to executive-produce The Hobbit, letting him pick a proxy director and oversee the production. That might be enough to keep fans' hearts from breaking, but would it be enough for Jackson? Amazingly, after all he's been through — eight years making Rings and several more in court fighting over it — the Shire still holds him in its spell. In fact, Jackson may turn out to be the only person who never once lost hope in the movie. Even in 2003, when his relationship with New Line was quite bleak, Jackson was still giving editions of The Hobbit as gifts. ''Great book,'' he wrote in one copy. ''Wonder when the movie's coming out??''

Reporting by Missy Schwartz and Vanessa Juarez. Additional reporting by Nicole Sperling

[Coheteboy]

I LOL'd big time at the subject when I got to Tom Cruise.


because he's kind of short, see...

[sir clinksalot]

Yeah, if it was The Onion I'd be

[Barbossa]

Does this mean Bilbo will be worshipping Xenu?

[larasound]

Good post. I'll vomit if Tom Cruise is involved.

[SnorkletsMom]

Eeewwww...sweet Xenu on a stick, no. No Tom Cruise, no no. Just because an actor is short, doesn't mean he's a good choice to play a hobbit.

[krystledm]

There really are a lot of names floating around for who is being seriously considered. Just about all of the main actors have said, "thanks but no thanks" when they were talked to about their chances. James McAvoy has not yet...

That is who i put my money on. Not only would he be amazing, but he looks "hobbity" if you go by movie standards and not book.

McAvoy FTW

[Outlander]

Shoot... I'd been hearing that Guillermo del Toro was going to direct, and Peter Jackson would just produce because his fight with New Line. I'd even heard from people close to Guillermo that this was the case.

And from a story point of view, don't forget that Bilbi was already around 50 when the Hobbit took place. Or was that Frodo?

[quizkid8279]

I hate to be that guy, but the EW article quoted here is from 2007 -- notice the date on the cover image.

Peter Jackson is not going to direct the "Hobbit" films; Guillermo Del Toro is definitely the man behind the camera. He's even talking about it in this article that was published Monday: Guillermo Del Toro Talks 'Hobbit' Rumors

I think they should just cast Elijah Wood as Bilbo. Why not?

[mickhyperion]

I'm not a Tom Cruise fan at all, HOWEVER the one movie that I love him in is Interview With the Vampire. When people first heard about his involvement in that film, there was a huge outcry of disgust and disbelief from everyone, including the author Anne Rice. There was no way anyone could picture Tom Cruise playing Lestat. Well he proved every critic wrong and won over even Anne Rice with his portrayal. He is deliciously evil and foppish and even pulled off being a long haired blond.

I still don't like Tom Cruise, but I believe he's capable of surprising people. I'd rather they use someone lesser known, but we'll see.

[DATman]

^^Because Frodo isn't a direct descendent of Bilbo, so they wouldn't necessarily look alike. The person to be cast as Bilbo needs to bear a resemblance to the Bilbo cast in LOTR. It only makes sense, as actors in LOTR are coming back to their roles in the Hobbit.

[Mac Daddy]

Originally Posted by Outlander

Shoot... I'd been hearing that Guillermo del Toro was going to direct, and Peter Jackson would just produce because his fight with New Line. I'd even heard from people close to Guillermo that this was the case.

And from a story point of view, don't forget that Bilbi was already around 50 when the Hobbit took place. Or was that Frodo?

Both. I just started the LOTR again for the umpteenth time, and if Bilbo is 111 when the party is given, he'd have been in his 60's or so when he went off on his adventure. I'm thinking they need someone who looks closer to Ian Holm but younger to really get it right. I can't see either Tom Cruise or Daniel Radcliff at all. They seem way too young...even in hobbit years.

How much of a nerd am I that I'm thinking in Hobbit years?

[sir clinksalot]

Legal settlement clears way for 'Hobbit' movie (Reuters) - Yahoo! Movies

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Hollywood studio behind a film based on "The Hobbit" and trustees for author J.R.R. Tolkien's estate said on Tuesday they had settled a lawsuit that clears the way for what is expected to be a blockbuster movie based on the book.
"The Hobbit" is a 1937 book by Tolkien about a diminutive character named Bilbo Baggins who goes on a treasure-seeking adventure, and it sets the stage for Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, with its epic tale of magic and warfare.
The "Lord of the Rings" books were made into three films released by New Line Cinema between 2001 and 2003 that made about $2.9 billion at worldwide box offices, and similarly "The Hobbit" is widely expected to be a blockbuster hit.
But in February 2008, the trustees of the Tolkien's estate filed a lawsuit against New Line, a division of Time Warner Inc, seeking more than $150 million in profits from the "Rings" movies, it claimed it was owed.
The lawsuit also sought to block filming of "The Hobbit," which will now be made into two movies by Guillermo del Toro, the filmmaker behind "Pan's Labyrinth" and "Hellboy."

[SnowWhite1937]

Tom Cruise.....I laugh. I'll cry if I find out that is true, but for now I'll just laugh.

[Xharryb]

Nice little interview with Del Toro that gives some insight into the process and what can be expected: Film features: Guillermo Del Toro On Making The Hobbit | TotalFilm.com