del Toro and Different Aesthetics for Different Films

[Voronwë the Faithful]

GdT has made the following post at TORN. He actually started a new thread to do so (which I think is a first), so I think that I can justify starting a new thread here for it (we really shouldn't just post everything about the Hobbit movie in one thread):

As the opening of "Hellboy II: The Golden Army" draws near I feel the urge to reiterate a fair warning. The Aesthetics of the film are quite "Pop" and colorful and -obviously- more influenced by the hyper-saturated palette of a Kirby comic book than a Fairy Tale or a Fantasy work.

Please do not get confused by either the palette of the film or its tone. It uses the comedic and interpersonal banter from the first film and the monster design is quite outlandish and colorful. We made a deliberate move away from the Celtic / Nordic aesthetics present in most Fantasy films because we knew we could NOT out do bigger productions (like LOTR) at that game.

We are a $85 m dollar film and we tried to find our own "look" so we endeavoured to create a very idiosyncratic melange of Arabic architecture and design and Oriental motifs. We took Japanese suit of armour patterns allowed it to be imbued by Celtic motifs, etc- you can see some of that in the trailer.

Our Elfland is more akin to Dunsany or perhaps even Moorcock in its aesthetics, using the stark contrast of dark against white skin and golden eyes.

Our magical world is broader and freer -even surreal at times- and suits the tone of this film.

I am exceedingly aware of Genres and moreso when I mix them and / or mix them together. Most of Hellboy will give you almost no indication of what will come to pass with the HOBBIT. There is, however a PROLOGUE done with Old Wooden Puppets that will share some faint traces that eventually you will be able to find in certain passages in the forthcoming movie. But even then, please do not take this as a verbatim through line.

When I started HBII I had NO inkling that the HOBBIT would really come my way and I wanted to use the Fantasy Worlds that lie beneath as a metaphor of all that mankind is extinguishing with its unedning greed.

It is my dearest hope that this message will prevent speculation of what in "Pan's Labyrinth" or "Hellboy II" will indicate what the HOBBIT will be. In time there will be definite aesthetic choices that will guide the film towards a yuxtaposition of PJ's and my visual proclivities but I think it will only be visible in retrospect and it would be almost impossible -and rather perverse- to try and divine it at this stage.

The same goes for tone and theme. Nevertheless, if some of you enjoyed the first :Hellboy" or "Pan's Labyrinth" for that matter I would love to have you grace a theater with your derriere and allow our tale to find you-

All the Best

GDT

It's really interesting that he felt the need to address this before the complaints and worries started coming in. Any thoughts?

[Jnyusa]

He saw what the message boards looked like before LotR!

[Primula Baggins]

I liiiike his style. "Yuxtaposition." "Grace a theater with your derriere."

We are lucky to have a filmmaker with his humane wit for The Hobbit.

(I never really went back on TORC to read what people said when PJ was announced as the LotR director—at the time I wasn't connected with any boards. I imagine it was rather horrific. Heavenly Creatures is not a bad prelude, but everything else he had done was so tackily grotesque! )

[axordil]

everything else he had done was so tackily grotesque

The Frighteners wasn't. It wasn't great, but it wasn't all that grotesque.

And what do you have against puppets with substance abuse issues?

[Pearly Di]

It's really interesting that he felt the need to address this before the complaints and worries started coming in. Any thoughts?

I just love this man's thoughtfulness and elegant style of expressing himself.

And the way he is wooing the fandom.

Oh, and thinking about the pre-film reaction to the news about PJ helming LotR, I was extremely enthusiastic about the news. Which I heard in August 1999 (that is such a scary thought ). The only film of his I'd seen, or even heard of, was Heavenly Creatures, which I'd been impressed by, despite its harrowing content.

The fact that he was an indie director, chosen to direct THREE films of LotR, really got me excited about the LotR movie news!

I chose to ignore the fact that he'd apparently done these other, really tasteless, films.

[solicitr]

Encouragingly, GdT appears to be a director of far greater intellect and nuance than PJ. Let's hope he prevails with the script.....

[Faramond]

I walked out of "Meet the Feebles" years before PJ did LOTR. Well, walked out of a room where a rented tape was being played. That was the vilest thing I've ever seen. I'm glad I didn't find out PJ was the one behind it until after I saw FOTR.

[vison]

I never heard of PJ until LOTR. I wish I still hadn't.

But I don't care about The Hobbit very much. If it's good, that's good. If it's not, it won't break my heart like LOTR did.

Well, maybe not broke but pretty well cracked.



Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm cracked anyway.

[Faramond]

But I don't care about The Hobbit very much. If it's good, that's good. If it's not, it won't break my heart like LOTR did.

That makes perfect sense to me.

And yet ... I do hope they get it right. The Hobbit was a beloved book to me years before LOTR was, and though LOTR has since eclipsed the Hobbit ... it's like a first love, you know?