The Hobbit in July 2007?

[obloquy]

Originally Posted by Lalaith

Pah, Bergman wasn´t just "scenes from a marriage" you know, he could be incredibly austere.
Kurosawa, now there´s a thought....he could have done "aure enteluva" really well, for sure...

He wasn't just Scenes, true. Bergman was also Winter Light, Autumn Sonata, Cries and Whispers, The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries, Through a Glass Darkly, Persona, The Silence, Hour of the Wolf, Fanny and Alexander, and many more that I haven't yet seen. Which of these would you say makes him seem like a good choice for Tolkien? Or maybe it's one that I did not list? Seriously, I'm wondering how we get from Bergman's themes of psychosis, split personality, the nature of death, the existence of God, etc., to the swords and dragons of fantasy, mature though it may be. Is it the troupe of dwarfs in Winter Light, perhaps?

I'd love to see Tolkien's material adapted in a serene, adult way as much as anyone, but Bergman? Kurosawa? Really, someone tell me why these, and not, say, Yasujiro Ozu? Or Andrei Tarkovsky? They've all got nothing to do with Tolkien or anything even similar.

Del Toro was actually a really good suggestion. There are also some other relatively young, quality filmmakers who have not yet branched into the genre but might be willing to, such as Jonathan Glazer, Christopher Nolan, Richard Linklater. No, they don't have much more in their portfolios to support them as candidates than those seasoned masters mentioned, but they are at least alive.