Post by Nienna Greenleaf of Mirkwood on Apr 29, 2008 8:52:06 GMT -6
MTV: You are treading on very sacred ground. Do you have a message to the fans to reassure them?
Del Toro: If you [go] deep enough you will find people that hate any depiction of Tolkien. They dislike any Tolkien that is not Tolkien. The people that are going to like it are going to like it because I come from a genuine place. And the people that are going to dislike it are going to dislike it because I'm coming from a genuine place. There's no two ways about it. You have to follow your instincts. My message is simple: If you don't think [Peter] did a fabulous job, very likely you won't think I will. If you think he did, I will do my best to make you proud of me.
He's absolutely 100% right about that. And I'm glad that he already knows it and expects this reaction from people. If they didn't like PJ's interpretation of the trilogy, they will not like Del Toro's. And with two masters of cinema working side-by-side to make this most treasured of "children's" stories into a living, breathing thing, there is little doubt that it will be better than we can even imagine.
He also said that he's most excited to film "Riddles in the Dark", and the spiders/Mirkwood.
For YEARS I have wanted to see these spiders. Since I never got far enough in the book to know about what they look like, I imagine them to be about half the size of Shelob, and more lithe and agile. And perhaps more deadly.
And about Smaug he said -
Smaug is one of my favorite characters in literature. It's such a beautiful and symbolic creature, totemic in what it represents and the power it has. My favorite creature in all of fantasy would be the dragon because of that book.
The very fact that Smaug is his favorite is very reassuring to me that he will do everything in his power to make the dragon as powerful a figure as possible. If I had just one little thing to say about what he says, it would be this...I wish he didn't refer to Smaug as "it"... People do that with animals and it makes them inferior. And we all know that Smaug is NOT inferior, but much more powerful than we could imagine. But other than that, everything's peachy. ;D