Why Guillermo del Toro left ‘The Hobbit’
Over the last four years, there has scarcely been another project in Hollywood that has been more highly anticipated — and has weathered more back-room corporate wrangling — than “The Hobbit.” So when filmmaker Guillermo del Toro (“Pan’s Labyrinth,” “Hellboy”) announced he was dropping out of directing the two films planned for J.R.R. Tolkien’s literary preamble to “The Lord of the Rings,” the news served as both a shock to fans and yet another possible casualty in the sad ongoing saga of MGM Studios.
As Del Toro and “The Hobbit” producer Peter Jackson explained to”LOTR” fansite TheOneRing.net, the two “Hobbit” films are still slated for release in December 2012 and December 2013. And Del Toro is still collaborating on the screenplay with Jackson and his LOTR co-screenwriters Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens. But why did Del Toro walk away from one of the most highly coveted director’s chairs in modern cinema? And who could possibly step in to replace him?
