Director Guillermo Del Toro Leaves "The Hobbit"

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LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - After spending the last two years developing "The Hobbit" as his latest directing project, Guillermo del Toro has stepped down as director of the J.R.R. Tolkien adaptation amid .

"In light of ongoing delays in the setting of a start date for filming "The Hobbit," I am faced with the hardest decision of my life," Guillermo wrote in his announcement on "Lord of the Rings" fansite TheOneRing.net. "After nearly two years of living, breathing and designing a world as rich as Tolkien's Middle Earth, I must, with great regret, take leave from helming these wonderful pictures."

He said he would continue to co-write the screenplays with Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Phillippa Boyens.

The walls started to crumble for del Toro in recent weeks as the uncertain future of MGM put the project, which was to have been two movies, in limbo. The producers had been hoping to be in production this summer but no greenlight was forthcoming.

That put pressure del Toro, who has a laundry list of projects outlined for the next 10 years, in a position of cutting bait or staying on for more uncertainty. The director moved his wife and children to New Zealand for the shoot, and the first movie was aiming for a December 2012 release.

"The blessings have been plenty, but the mounting pressures of conflicting schedules have overwhelmed the time slot originally allocated for the project," said del Toro in his statement. "Both as a co-writer and as a director, I wish the production nothing but the very best of luck and I will be first in line to see the finished product. I remain an ally to it and its makers, present and future, and fully support a smooth transition to a new director."

Jackson stated he understood del Toro's position: "We understand how the protracted development time on these two films, due to reasons beyond anyone's control ... has compromised his commitment to other long term projects. The bottom line is that Guillermo just didn't feel he could commit six years to living in New Zealand, exclusively making these films, when his original commitment was for three years."

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More Here..Director Guillermo Del Toro Leaves "The Hobbit" - ABC News

weird stuff, they are dragging this out for some reason, its not like there isn't enough money to make the hobbit as its virtually an extension of lotr

maybe a (subtle) way to get rid of del toro as a director

read this peter jackson comment, what's he been (hooked) on lately?

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Guillermo’s strong vision is engrained [sic] into the scripts and designs of these two films, which are extremely fortunate to be blessed with his creative DNA.

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but then again, in some 90% cases when a movie is based on a book, it cannot match the original written material quality, thus being a pale replica of some sort, meaning that its not a big loss when some movie doesn't get done, as reading books is almost always a better option (in terms of quality)

I think the his work on the movie "Pan's Labyrinth" was really good

It's a shame he decided to not direct "The Hobbit" as a result of economic problems

Studio want another 2 year from him to spent on project,and still they don't have starting date..So it's good that he left the MCG and do some good work ..

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Originally Posted by slikrapid

reading books is almost always a better option (in terms of quality)

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Agreed. A lot from the story gets cut out or changed in movies.

Alternatively, you can read the book and then watch the movie based on it to see how good the "port" is, something I do at times.

Not surprised really! They're delaying this movie so long now, that I fear we'll never see it!

Ah well, then they should just scrap it instead of dragging it on and on. But I suspect they try to keep the rights to making the movie. Which ironically may not be given out again so soon if they manage to mess this attempt up.

I read maybe Peter Jackson will take over directing. But I doubt that will happen.