EXCL: Del Toro on Hellboy II and The Hobbit

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EXCL: Del Toro on Hellboy II and The Hobbit

Source:Edward Douglas

April 20, 2008

Clearly, one of the most memorable highlights of this year's New York Comic-Con was Universal's presentation for Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy II: The Golden Army, where Guillermo, Hellboy creator Mike Mignola and a good portion of the film's cast--Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Doug Jones and Luke Goss--showed up to present a new extended trailer for the movie that shows a lot more of Hellboy's fights with Prince Nuada, his henchman Mr. Wink and the Golden Army. When the lights came up after the trailer was shown, the panelists were surrounded by nine of the wild and amazing creatures from the film's Troll Market scene including Mr. Wink himself, some of which you can see in our New York Comic-Con Gallery.

ComingSoon.net/Superhero Hype! had a chance to talk with Guillermo a little before the panel about how progress was going on the second "Hellboy" movie, the prospects of making a potentially bigger third movie as well as where he was at with The Hobbit. Even though there are still a few legal issues to work out, which he thinks will allow an announcement in as little as four or five days, Del Toro is not taking challenges of making The Hobbit lightly, since the two movies that would act as prequels to Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy.

ComingSoon.net/Superhero Hype!: What we've seen so far has looked amazing. What has been the biggest challenge you've faced in terms of getting what we saw on set last year to your original vision and what we've seen in the trailers?
Guillermo del Toro: I think time, unfortunately. Technically, we have the resources… money and time, because realize that we were very fiscally responsible with the budget, but also the movie got moved a month up from August to July, so that's a huge challenge.

CS/SHH!: So how far along are you on getting the movie done?
GDT: We're 50% into the effects. We have to deliver approximately 600 FX completed before the movie opens and we have delivered around 400 or something. I'm confident we will.

CS/SHH!: I've spoken to a few directors, and we've spoken about this, but one of the problems even when you have a bigger budget, the vision always gets bigger, so does that pose a problem?
GDT: We're like the girl who thinks she's thin and trying the tightest pants possible, and the spillover always occurs.

CS/SHH!: If you have a chance to do a third "Hellboy" movie, do you expect you'd have to have an even bigger budget to do it?
GDT: The third movie involves the end of the world, so I suspect it would be bigger.

CS/SHH!: Of course, there's been a lot of talk about "The Hobbit" lately, but you have so many projects on the slate either in development or attached to. Are you ready to get involved something like that which is so big and time-consuming? Do you have other directors you want to line up to make these other movies?
GDT: Yeah, well I'm very conscious that doing "The Hobbit" demands four plus years of my life where I will not do anything else as a director, and as far as producing is concerned, I think we have a good year and a half of pre-production, so I can always be available but concentrating on "The Hobbit."

CS/SHH!: Do you think you'd get involved with Peter on the writing of that?
GDT: We are still talking about how to go, but I will be involved with the writing, yes.

CS/SHH!: What's the most daunting thing with taking on a project of that size besides the time involved?
GDT: There's the scope, and the learning curve, because the amount of things I've gotta learn. I fell in love with "The Hobbit" but I'm marrying an entire mythology. It's like meeting the family of a girl you're going to marry… you get them all, and I fell in love with "The Hobbit" and now I'm familiarizing myself with not only the trilogy--the trilogy I only finally read--but every single thing I can read that Tolkien generated about Middle Earth or about him I'm reading, and in terms of the visuals. In order for the two movies to seamlessly involve into the trilogy, I have to literally put myself through the biggest "making of" ever assembled. I'm going to watch all the dailies of "Fellowship" and I'm going to watch most of the dailies of "The Return of the King." I'll watch as much material as I possibly can take, the camera reports... everything. By the end of the second ("Hobbit") movie, you have to be able to have evolved towards "The Lord of the Rings" and feel that it's a complete continuation.

CS/SHH!: Do you think you'll ever be able to go back to doing something like "The Devil's Backbone"?
GDT: Yeah, I'm writing one, but every time I say something, people think it's the next project, so I don't want to confuse anyone.

CS/SHH!: But do you think you'd be able to go back and do a smaller movie like that again?
GDT: Not only do I think so. I must do so. I have to do it. The fact that I'm doing two big movies in a row, or in this case three, I'm going to come out of there not wanting to do something big. I'm going to want to do something small and crazy.

(As we'd find out at the panel later that "small and crazy" thing might be his exploration of childhood and horror which he's been working on for a few years, something called "Saturn and the End of Days," about a young boy named "Saturn" watching the Rapture and Apocalypse on the way back and forth to the grocery store. Essentially, he wants to explore how the end of the world might be viewed while someone is just going about your everyday life doing errands. "Nothing big happens except the entire world is being swallowed in a vortex of fire," Del Toro told the rapt audience of his fans at the panel. "It's a small movie, but I assure you that one I am just doing that I know that if everything fails and everything goes wrong that I'll be doing a small movie that I fully control and that no one else will do for sure.")

Hellboy II: The Golden Army opens on July 11 and look for more of our interviews with the movie's cast in the next few days.

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Posted by: mokotoshishio on April 20, 2008 at 11:16:25

sweet del toro doing the hobbit is awsome, thank god they arent gonna let sam raimi screw this franchise up like he did to spiderman.

Posted by: al on April 20, 2008 at 11:16:41

It Will Be A Great Movie, And I Tinhk Del Toro Would Do An Excelent Hobbit Movie.

Posted by: Mister_Fantastic on April 20, 2008 at 12:09:58

Did I misunderstand? They are doing a Hobbit trilogy of movies? What?!?

Posted by: mark on April 20, 2008 at 12:51:57

He Does Good Work, We Will Just Have To Wait And See

Posted by: rjones on April 20, 2008 at 13:10:48

Let's me get this striaght. If he'll have to immerse himself in the Hobbit for four years, AFTER they get the rights in a year or so, that means we won't see the finished film until
2013 or 2013? Wow, that's a long wait.

Posted by: Tighelander on April 20, 2008 at 13:17:03

Early last year I heard that he really wanted to do a movie on DC's Deadman.

Posted by: Andrewsh86 on April 20, 2008 at 13:19:28

@Mister_Fantastic

He's breaking The Hobbit into two movies. You may have gotten confused when he started talking about making the two Hobbit movies flow seamlessly into the already existing LoTR Trilogy. I just wonder where he's going to end and begin the first and second Hobbit movies, respectively.

Posted by: Joe on April 20, 2008 at 13:55:23

It's one movie of The Hobbit, and then a second movie as a bridge about things we've never seen in between the hobbit and the LotR trilogy.

Posted by: smatt584 on April 20, 2008 at 14:09:17

I wonder if he's going to add some of the pre-hobbit history of middle earth into the first hobbit movie, or get the same actors. He'll also have to get a couple of the actors from the lotr trilogy or at least younger people who look like them.

Posted by: Amanda Hugnkiss on April 20, 2008 at 15:24:51

Is Doug Jones doing Abe's voice in this one or will it be the voice of David "Frasier's brother Niles" Hyde Pierce again?

Posted by: Wraith8201 on April 20, 2008 at 16:22:32

Yeah, del Torro is PERFECT, were gonna get a HOBBIT/HELLBOY movie!

Bilbo's gonna fight the Dragon in the mountain guarding all the treasure like Hellboy fought that leviathan beast... The HOBBIT is gonna be awesome!

Posted by: douchebaggins on April 20, 2008 at 16:33:17

oh and amanda it's doug jones doing the voice

Posted by: Wraith8201 on April 20, 2008 at 16:33:37

Hell boy should make a cameo appearance in the The Hobbit, helping him fight the Dragon...

HELL BOY is a demon, raised as a human to be a detective, soldier, paranormal investigator, ass-kicker of monsters and Bilbo is a midget, sorry... Hobbit with a magical Ring that makes him invisible and slowly insane...
I'm betting that Hell boy is gonna walk out of the fight first without a scratch on him while the Dragon makes Bilbo his little play thing...
***** Baggins

o_0

Posted by: Wraith8201 on April 20, 2008 at 16:36:33

to douchebaggins

hahahahahahaha lol lmao, thank you for your comment dude

Posted by: pete.uk on April 20, 2008 at 17:10:00

what about the rumour that was floating around when Peter Jackson was hopeing to direct etc that he was going to make The Hobbit into 2 movies AND "write" a 3rd movie to bridge the gap inbetween the books? one were we see the white council?

Posted by: Wraith8201 on April 20, 2008 at 17:21:02

With all due respect, Peter Jackson is a good Director... I like Lord of the Rings and the Two Towers, he just really ****ed up Return of Drag king... King-Kong was a great movie, so, I know he could have handled the Hobbit fine, but I'm glad that Del Torro is attached to direct because he adapted the Hell boy comic into a great movie...

Posted by: Dark on April 20, 2008 at 17:25:52

douchebaggins pretty much said what i wanted to. Moko you have no idea what you're talking about. yea spiderman 3 was a bit off compared to the other 2 but Spiderman 2 is still being called the best comic/superhero movie to date. so with a title like that i guess you're right. Raimi really screwed up that franchise.

Posted by: rat monkey on April 20, 2008 at 22:19:03

i'll have to trust jackson's 'king kong' was great since i fell asleep sometime in the first 18 hours of it.
somebody buy guillermo a balloon. debbie downer!

Posted by: speedracer216 on April 20, 2008 at 23:39:53

mokotoshishio, i'm with you. thanks goodness sam raimi isn't doing the hobbit.

Posted by: douchebaggins on April 21, 2008 at 00:22:59

ok peter jackson is awesome! i think so, but thats because i was a fan before he did lord of the rings. go watch anything he's done and you'll know that he can make whatever the hell he feels like.

" I kick ass for the lord "

Posted by: thetruthisoutthere on April 21, 2008 at 00:40:33

RatMonkey: I rented the video for Peter Jackson's King Kong when it first came out and got so bored with it for the first half hour that I fell asleep too. So the very next day I returned the video without ever having seen the whole movie. I lost interest in it.

Posted by: mokotoshishio on April 21, 2008 at 03:11:42

raimi did indeed screw up the franchise no matter what the media purchased hype says, i mean cmon he made peter parker boring, theres absolutely no wise cracks like in the comics, anyway del toro is a good director and im sure he will give us a good pair of movies, peter jackson did awsome on the lord of the rings, i wish he was still directing but im glad hes at least involved and writing.

Posted by: Rhodes Owns Stark on April 21, 2008 at 06:30:38

Del T. is good, but P. Jackson did somthing with that franchise that should not be screwed with. The fact that too little dollar signs are being waved in P. Jackson's face is a mistake. I think the continuity of Jackson staying onboard would have made many non-book fan-types comfortable going to the movies again. I'm not sure Del T. will bring them.

I could be wrong. Nevertheless, the new Hulk film is going to fail b/c Hell Boy said so.

Posted by: GooberBoob on April 21, 2008 at 07:46:32

So, we won't get a Peter Jackson "Hobbit" . . . or a Joss Whedon "Wonder Woman" . . . or a Jerry Bruckheimer "Michelin Man vs. The Blue Falcon vs. Space Ghost vs. Mayor McCheese..."

I think this may be a sign of the Apocalypse.

Posted by: bah on April 21, 2008 at 08:26:21

bah

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