After The Lord of the Rings Peter Jackson made the trilogy “The Hobbit”, initiated with “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”. But did you know that the filmmaker does not like this trilogy? Here’s why.
The Hobbit: Peter Jackson replaces Guillermo del Toro
In 2012 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey allows Peter Jackson to launch the Hobbit trilogy (concluded in 2014 with The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies). It is obviously an adaptation of JRR Tolkien’s novel. Initially Peter Jackson wanted to tell this children’s book in two films, but ended up making an entire trilogy. The filmmaker did not completely convince fans with this return to Middle-earth, in particular because he himself was not convinced.
In April 2008, the filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro is hired to carry out the Hobbit. Supported by Peter Jackson, he embarked on the preparation of the footage, but abandon ship two years laterin May 2010. During this two-year period, Del Toro and Jackson reportedly wrote a script that suited both artists’ worlds.
Unfortunately, when everything was ready, MGM, the studio that produced the footage, enters a difficult period of financial problems. The studio ends up freezing its various projects for an indefinite period. Because of this situation, Guillermo Del Toro preferred to abandon ship and leave for other horizons. Ironically, very shortly after his departure, the project was relaunched, and Peter Jackson has no choice but to direct it.
Too many trilogy?
Around the time of the DVD release of the second film The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, Peter Jackson had reconsidered his disappointments. He explained in particular the conditions of manufacture of the last film and the trilogy in general (via The Guardian):
It’s not because Guillermo Del Toro left that I came back to take care of it. The film was no longer the same as the one he had in mind. I started shooting the film without most of the set having benefited from the slightest preparation. You get on set and you get busy, you have these massive, convoluted scenes, no storyboarding and you improvise. I spent most of The Hobbit feeling like I wasn’t really in control. Even regarding the screenplay, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens and I couldn’t write a story that we were completely satisfied with. It was a maximum pressure situation.
If Peter Jackson failed to reach the level of the trilogy of The Lord of the Rings, it is because of this work situation. The project was initially for Guillermo Del Toro, and Peter Jackson didn’t really want to make this trilogy. Working conditions didn’t help. Anyway, the Hobbit is out, divided into three films. It’s a trilogy that also divides fans. Even if the films sometimes have less soul than their elders, the fact remains that they are films with an imposing heroic breath, and much better than most blockbusters all comers.
