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Surprisingly candid comments from cast and crew about the the Hobbit movies

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D

Divvy

Canadians burned my passport
Man, you can literally see him progressively gain weight from stress and lack of sleep over the course of that video.
 
T

terrible

Banned
Well shit. That explains some of the issues then I guess. I still think turning it into a three part thing was the biggest problem though.
 
L

Loxley

Member
People tend to forget that Jackson reluctantly excepted the job as director after Del Toro dropped out, and that they didn't have nearly as much pre-production time as the did with The Lord of the Rings because almost everything Del Toro had done up to that point was scrapped. Jackson actually got an ulcer the week before they were scheduled to begin principal photography due to how overworked and stressed he'd become in the lead-up to filming (this postponed shooting for six weeks).

I'm nearly finished with the eight hours of behind-the-scenes docs on the BOFTA EE - and it really is incredible just how much work goes into these films, regardless of the final product's overall quality. The last two films may have been a disappointment (though I ended up enjoying the BOFTA EE), but I still greatly admire the incredible craftsmanship and attention to detail in these films.
 
D

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
I still enjoyed these movies. Not nearly as good as the Lord of the Rings, but I still had a good time watching them.
 
K

katagai

Member
?

g9PqN7u.gif
 
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Trumpet909

Member
Loxley said:
People tend to forget that Jackson reluctantly excepted the job as director after Del Toro dropped out, and that they didn't have nearly as much pre-production time as the did with The Lord of the Rings because almost everything Del Toro had done up to that point was scrapped. Jackson actually got an ulcer the week before they were scheduled to begin principal photography due to how overworked and stressed he'd become in the lead-up to filming (this postponed shooting for six weeks).
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Not knowing much about how the films were made and just assuming that he lazily put these together; your comment and the video posted really changes my perspective on that.
 
C

CDX

Member
"Lord of the Rings had 3 and half years of preproduction prep"

"Peter never got a chance to prep these movies... I can't say that. But he didn't."

Peter Jackson "I was just making it up then and there on the spot"


Welp. That explains a lot.
 
F

fallengorn

Bitches love smiley faces
Yeah, I didn't follow the production that much. Feel bad for Jackson.

It explains part of why the movies got progressively worse.
 
C

Cutebrute

Member
That makes me feel so bad for the crew and even for Peter. It's a miracle that the movies were even semi-functional as stories at all. That also helps explain why the Hobbit became a trilogy if they literally didn't have the battle until a year after schedule.
 
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brianmcdoogle

Member
I didn't follow the production of these films at all, but why did Del Toro drop out so late in the process? Was he pushed out, or did he just bail? Were his concepts that foreign and not in sync with the previous LotR films?
 
V

Vashetti

Banned
brianmcdoogle said:
I didn't follow the production of these films at all, but why did Del Toro drop out so late in the process? Was he pushed out, or did he just bail? Were his concepts that foreign and not in sync with the previous LotR films?
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I think there was a lot of roadblocks (legal, financial, etc.) in getting production started, and Del Toro was passing on projects because of his obligation to the Hobbit.

He waited for as long as he could and quit.
 
E

Elfforkusu

Member
Still hoping against hope that we get a legit re-cut into one or two films. Mess or not, I do feel like what was made is salvageable. Just not as three films. That was never going to work.
 
M

makingmusic476

Member
brianmcdoogle said:
I didn't follow the production of these films at all, but why did Del Toro drop out so late in the process? Was he pushed out, or did he just bail? Were his concepts that foreign and not in sync with the previous LotR films?
Click to expand...

I vaguely recall that arguments between Warner and New Line over rights caused such a long delay in production that Del Toro eventually had to move on to other commitments.

Del Toro signed on several years before filming was finally able to commence.
 
K

kurahador

Member
brianmcdoogle said:
I didn't follow the production of these films at all, but why did Del Toro drop out so late in the process? Was he pushed out, or did he just bail? Were his concepts that foreign and not in sync with the previous LotR films?
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I think remember reading him saying he doesn't want his family to relocate just for him to do The Hobbit.

I'm guessing he realized how much effort and time needed to do them and he became reluctant. Him dropping out at the last minutes really screwed Peter Jackson though.
 
M

Matt

Member
makingmusic476 said:
I vaguely recall that arguments between Warner and New Line over rights caused such a long delay in production that Del Toro eventually had to move on to other commitments.

Del Toro signed on several years before filming was finally able to commence.
Click to expand...

Warners and New Line are the same company, any rights issues were between New Line and MGM.
 
V

vagabondarts

Member
This explains so much. I'm not sure what to say. It sucks that Peter felt so lost. Given that he did, it's absolutely amazing that they turned it into anything at all.
 
B

brianmcdoogle

Member
Vashetti said:
I think there was a lot of roadblocks (legal, financial, etc.) in getting production started, and Del Toro was passing on projects because of his obligation to the Hobbit.

He waited for as long as he could and quit.
Click to expand...

makingmusic476 said:
I vaguely recall that arguments between Warner and New Line over rights caused such a long delay in production that Del Toro eventually had to move on to other commitments.

Del Toro signed on several years before filming was finally able to commence.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I view Del Toro as someone with great talent, but with him being attached to lots of things that never get made or he leaves, I always considered (past tense) him to be a bit of a flake when it comes to productions.

I feel bad for Jackson after seeing this video. The atmosphere and demeanor seems not of an artist but of a janitor saying "well, someone's gotta do it". It doesn't improve the first two films (I never saw the third), but I do pity him to some degree. Hopefully free of the shackles of LotR he can do other work, even if they are failures like The Lovely Bones.
 
T

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
Vashetti said:
Jackson seems really sad and tired.
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Well, I mean he's been working on these/the "series" for about 10-14 years now. I wouldn't be surprised if he is really tired of Middle Earth.
 
E

ExVicis

Member
Peter Jackson tried. I maintain they still were not bad movies. Peter Jackson still does good directing and seemed to have done well with the Hobbit movies, but they just were not as good as the originals. They were enjoyable and watchable though in their own way.
 
D

Dazza

Member
If it wasn't for all the suits and bean counters from Warner Bros putting such immense pressure we would have gotten something a lot better
 
J

jerry113

Banned
I wish we had gotten Del Toro's movie. We needed something significantly different in tone and visual than the LOTR trilogy for The Hobbit but instead we got LOTR-lite.

"The actual battle itself was a mystery to us. We didn't know what we were doing."
 
E

Einchy

semen stains the mountaintops
Usually you don't get this type of behind the scenes candidness until years and years have passed.

It's crazy that he actually said he was winging most of it.
 
B

Beaniedude

Member
I still haven't seen the last movie but I really do enjoy the massive amount of Behind The Scenes work they put into these Extended Editions.
 
Tesseract

Tesseract

Banned
holy shit, why didn't they just tell us this

peter was awake and active 21 hours / day, FUCK THAT

they should've called in raimi

sSYITAN.jpg
 
A

alterno69

Banned
I still enjoyed the movies.

This video just left me feeling uneasy, like they had to release it to save face. Fact is, they took the job under those terms, man up and face the consequences, you're a pro, making literally millions of dollars for what you do, no excuses IMO, if you werent happy with the situation why take the job in the first place?
 
D

Deadstar

Member
Should have been two films. Also when they say they had no direction.....aren't these based on the books? Go to the books for direction!
 
D

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
Deadstar said:
Should have been two films. Also when they say they had no direction.....aren't these based on the books? Go to the books for direction!
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The book is only 300 pages, and even the appendices stuff they added in was mostly just a few things about Gandalf traveling away from the party.
 
V

Vashetti

Banned
HariKari said:
No storyboards specifically. Really amazing that it turned out coherent at all.
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The forge chase scene at the end of the second film was being written, filmed, scored and having VFX 1-2 months before the premiere because the split to three movies meant they had no ending for movie 2.
 
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