Quick Cuts: The Hobbit, The Heretic, Taking Woodstock
Though it was seemingly inevitable — despite many, many hurdles — Variety has announced that Guillermo del Toro has officially signed on to direct the New Line-MGM feature The Hobbit, as well as its sequel. The films will be produced by Lord of the Rings producers Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh back-to-back over the next four years in New Zealand, much like the aforementioned trilogy. The sequel will cover the 60 year period between The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Del Toro’s most recent project is the upcoming Hellboy II, which, might I add, looks completely awesome.
Javier Rodriguez’s spec script, The Heretic, has been picked up by Phoenix Pictures, according to Variety, and is on the fast-track to theaters. The film centers on “a fallen priest-turned-hitman sent by a rogue archbishop to assassinate Martin Luther, only to discover that not everyone is telling the truth.”
Also over at Variety, we find out that Elliot Tiber’s memoir, Taking Woodstock: A True Story of a Riot, a Concert, and a Life is making its way to the silver screen, courtesy of another filmmaking team, James Schamus and Ang Lee, and Focus Features. The film, more succinctly titled Taking Woodstock, “follows an Everyman working at his parents’ motel in the Catskills who inadvertently sets in motion what would become the generation-defining concert.” The budget is set at $5 to $10 million and will not focus on the concert itself. Questions still remain about the possible use of period music, though the ridiculously high sales of soundtracks that simply reissue baby boomer favorites for the billionth time would seem to make it a no-brainer.
Related posts: Guillermo del Toro still not directing The Hobbit…
In: News · Tagged with: Ang Lee, Guillermo del Toro, Hellboy II, Javier Rodriguez, Lord Of The Rings, Peter Jackson, The Heretic, The Hobbit
on 2008-04-24 at 21:18
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They should use Melanies song “Lay Down as he lead song-track for the movie. I can’t wait to see it, I loved the book!
Jim Baldwin
Spokane WA
http://LetHerIn.org – My personal site to promote Melanie