Filming For The Hobbit Begins In July

krou writes "Sir Ian McKellen has revealed that filming for The Hobbit and its sequel is scheduled to begin in July, and will take approximately a year to complete. Casting is now 'taking place in LA, London and New York,' and [director Guillermo] Del Toro is already 'living in Wellington, close to the Jacksons and the studio in Miramar.' Apparently the script is still being worked on, and 'the first draft is crammed with old and new friends, again on a quest in Middle-earth.' The planned sequel to The Hobbit is to be an original story not written by Tolkien, covering the 60 years between The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings."

Comments

The audition

[Animats]

I have visions of furries lined up for the audition.

Re:The audition

[Chris Burke]

Probably. He'll then appear in a spin-off: The Beorn Identity.

To quote the great Randall Graves

[elrous0]

Oh jeez, MORE walking?!?!?

Hobbit 2: Electric Boogaloo

[xleeko]

... like Jar Jar Binksarrim of the water people. And Elrond will have an affair with Galadriel. That's right, as soon as we fully Americanize this story, we will have a real winner here, folks.

Sorry, that was only the first draft. Now, Bilbo is a time-traveling immortal who joins with a hip new Gandalf to save Middle-Earth's ozone layer.

Then, they break dance!

Re:Hobbit 2: Electric Boogaloo

[dkleinsc]

No, we all know that the real title will be The Hobbit 2: The Search for more Money.

Re:Sequel

[Hal_Porter]

I heard George Lucas is writing it. Young Gollum will be a comedy character to lighten the mood. His appearance has been changed a bit to appeal to the 5-10 age range that have the most pester power over merchandise sales, e.g. big floppy bunny ears. To save time it will all be CGI scenery. Human actors will be dosed with Thorazine to make them more docile and easier to pose.

Re:Sequel

[Zalbik]

"The planned sequel to The Hobbit is to be an *original story not written by Tolkien*, covering the 60 years between The Hobbit, and the Lord of the Rings."

The summary is wrong, from TFA:

"According to studio New Line, the first film will be an adaptation of The Hobbit, the novel Tolkien published before his Lord of the Rings cycle.
The second will be an original story focusing on the 60 years between the book and the beginning of the Rings trilogy. "

So we're getting a hobbit movie AND a new story.

So you're saying, we're getting "The Hobbit" movie, and a planned sequel to "The Hobbit" which is to be an *original story not written by Tolkien*, covering the 60 years between The Hobbit, and the Lord of the Rings."?

Thanks for clearing that up.

Re:Summary is wrong ...

[maxwells daemon]

dammit. should have gotten the refundable plane tickets.

Re:same actors for immortals?

[Rogerborg]

Yup, she bought the level 80 expansion and left her guildies behind.

How about a Tim Burton-style franchise reboot?

[kimvette]

Can we get Tim Burton to direct, and make it a franchise reboot?

I can see it now: the hobbits living in an advanced society not unlike 21st century Europe undergo a genetic mutation as the result of exposure to radioactive volcanic ash. One of the hobbits becomes Lord Sauron, who proceeds to rise up and conquer the lands, forming an oppressive kingdom where he removes and monopolizes all modern technology. Society within that first generation regresses to a 10th-century-style existence. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Starbuck, an astronaut who crashed on some faraway planet, helped the hobbits form a rag tag resistance group comprised of wookies, psychlo, and griffins, stumble across a cache of F-35 Lightning fighters, and although they have never seen so much as a flashlight or even matches, over the course of two weeks, become expert fighter pilots. Did I mention these F-35 Lightnings were not what they appeared, but are actually transformers, and in the bunker-style hangar they came across, there was a large semi. Well, the transformers were remaining covert to try to learn what all these strange creatures were up to since the creatures showed a barely perceptible spark of conscious thought. Optimus Prime took pity and he and his brothers revealed their true nature to the rag tag team. They agree to help the hobbits, psychlo, wookies, and griffins wage war to overthrow Sauron. The battle was quick and decisive.

Now for the Tim Burton twist ending: Glinda, the good witch told Lieutenant Starbuck "sorry man, but you have to go home now. I'll service you first." She gives him a BJ and tells him all he needs to do is to play the hokey pokey then he will be swiftly transported home. He does the hokey pokey, except he put is left foot in when he should have put in his right foot, so he landed in a parallel universe where the Earth is now ruled by giant tarantulas.