Hmm... double-posting
again. Twice in one thread. But this fascinating story continues to develop. Here's an
article from trade-favorite blog Deadline Hollywood, speculating that Jackson may already be walking back the earlier reported comment from his manager that he would definitely not direct
The Hobbit:
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Deadline Hollywood
When Guillermo del Toro vacated the directing chair on two installments of The Hobbit, the prospect of Peter Jackson taking over was labeled a near impossibility by his camp. That seemed to be contradicted a day later by Jackson's own comments to a New Zealand newspaper when he said "If that’s what I have to do to protect Warner Brothers’ investment, then obviously that’s one angle which I’ll explore.” Is Jackson easing his way into the job? According to his manager, Ken Kamins, nothing has changed. Jackson's film commitments are real, though he hasn't told us yet what they are, and Kamins maintains efforts are underway in New Zealand right now to find another director who'll keep the project on track to start production in late 2010 or early 2011.
Per Kamins: "When Peter says that directing himself is one angle he'd explore if he had to, that means, if we can't find another director who is right for the films that everyone can agree on, and, if at that time, the other studios involved in his other projects would relieve him of his obligations.'"
I will be surprised if Jackson doesn't direct, it solves too many problems for it not to happen. He co-wrote the films and is fully staked creatively. Based on the job he did on The Lord of the Rings, nobody does Middle Earth better and it would be daunting to try. Many of the big directors who could pull it off are booked, like Alfonso Cuaron (the 3D space film Gravity with Robert Downey Jr.) Bryan Singer (directing Jack the Giant Killer early next year and producing X-Men: First Class this fall) or Sam Raimi (World of Warcraft, plus why would he want to re-engage when MGM/New Line originally chose del Toro over him?). If they enlist a hot newcomer for such a gargantuan creative task, Jackson would be so tied up in a mentoring role that he might as well direct himself.
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Interesting analysis, especially the info about top directing prospects who are already booked. It does make sense for Jackson to step in if he doesn't want to set pre-production back months as a new director gets up to speed and puts his own stamp on things, but the big question that the article doesn't address is that MGM's cash flow problems are still unresolved.
In a way I almost have a morbid curiosity about how Jackson would handle TH at this point. Has he grown in the intervening decade? I thought there was some nice stuff in
Kong where he was forced to rely on letting the actors (even a heavily CGI-ified actor) tell the story with looks and some subtle nuance (for Jackson anyway) rather than on-the-nose dialogue. Will some maturity and restraint reveal itself? How has working with Del Toro on the project for a couple of years affected his take?
Ultimately I agree with davem that a 2012 release date is looking increasingly unlikely, but it's fun to speculate.
As a bonus, here's
an interview with Del Toro given prior to his departure from TH. In it, he talks at length about his view of what a producer's role should and should not be. I suspect that if Jackson's view wasn't pretty close to Del Toro's, GDT wouldn't have hung in there for two years.