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I don't know if I've talked about this on LJ, but I've been over the moon since I found out Guillermo Del Toro would directing The Hobbit and its sequel, with Peter Jackson producing. Del Toro directed Hell Boy, which was more entertaining than I expected, and although not my favorite comic or fantasy film, I liked it. He also directed, more notably, Pan's Labyrinth, which I loved and which won Oscars for Cinematography, Art Direction, and Make Up, as well as being nominated for Score, Original Screenplay, and Best Foreign Film.

When I heard he'd been hand-picked by Peter Jackson, and that Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens [LOTR writers] would be co-writing it with Del Toro, I was in a state of fan bliss. That was several weeks ago, and the bliss hasn't really gone away-- I only forget about it sometimes, but as soon as I'm reminded I get excited again. Even though it won't come out until December 2011, I am excited. I expect to stay in a state of being instantly "re-excitable" for the next three years any time anyone mentions the films.

Reading the online chat transcript[HOBBIT BOOK SPOILERS] between Peter Jackson, Guillermo Del Toro, and submitted questions from fans, I was pleased with their responses about the tone of The Hobbit versus LOTR, the fact that these movies would also be "intense PG-13" as LOTR was, and that the two new films will be designed to inhabit the same "world" of middle earth and retain continuity with the trilogy, while also benefiting from a new director's talent and ideas. The interview was rather long, AND CONTAINS MAJOR BOOK SPOILER FOR THE HOBBIT, but if you are familiar with The Hobbit, then I suggest hitting CNTRL+F and searching "Smaug" until you get to Official Question 8... Del Toro gives a geeky, enthusiastic, and encouraging spiel about what he plans for the infamous Smaug. He cites Disney's Maleficent [Sleeping Beauty] and the dragon from Dragonslayer as his ideal cinematic portrayals of dragons, and says:

Smaug should not be "the Dragon in the Hobbit movie" as if it was just "another" creature in a Bestiary. Smaug should be "The DRAGON" for all movies past and present. The shadow he cast and the greed he comes to embody- the "need to own" casts its long shadow and creates a thematic / dramatic continuity of sorts that articulates the story throughout-

This is exactly the kind of thoughtful, passionate answer I would want from a director. This guy sounds like he knows and loves the characters and the story of The Hobbit. Which is important, incredibly important, to me, because I loved The Hobbit more than LOTR. I've read LOTR once all the way through, but I've read The Hobbit three times all the way through and spot-read chapters on a whim other times.

The Hobbit isn't just "the prequel"... it's THE BOOK. Where LOTR was about doom and duty and desperate nobility in a time of crisis and hope and beauty and fear, The Hobbit is about adventure, and growing up and becoming a wiser person, and leaving your comfort zone (a colloquialism that never applied to a more fitting character than Bilbo Baggins), and gradual transformation from a bystander to a hero. It doesn't have the elegance of LOTR or the epic scale: the main characters are one hobbit and thirteen dwarves, and the goal is not to save the world but to steal a hoard of treasure. There are a lot of modern fantasy novels that borrow from The Lord of the Rings, but far too few try to emulate the more lovable and eminently more re-readable story of The Hobbit. I LOVE THIS BOOK. LIKE I LOVE FEW OTHER BOOKS IN THE WORLD.

When the LOTR films aired, when the extended edition DVD finally was released, I thought: "This is it, it's over. Next Christmas, there won't be a whole new movie for us." And I was heartbroken. I was desperately sad to lose what, in three years, had become my moviegoing grand finale of the year: the new Tolkien movie. And I knew that after three films Peter Jackson wouldn't want to direct a Bilbo movie, and I also knew that without Peter Jackson, how would another movie ever be as magical?

And then I heard the magic name: Guillermo Del Toro. With PJ producing/writing.

I thought, "Yes...yes......YES!"

Seriously, I had a happy. If I'd been a cursed vampire I'd have lost my goddamn soul, without even actually seeing a reel of film yet. Pan's Labyrinth was dark and intense, but it was so beautiful, and its characters and story so rich, that it will always stay in my memory of epic cinema. Only someone who made a "fairy tale" movie that good could succeed Peter Jackson in LOTR. I am thrilled.

Wow... I'll be 27 when The Hobbit plays in theaters. That will be weird to the extreme, considering I was 17 when The Fellowship of the Ring was released.