Here's some highlights from the interview:
Have you decided what the second movie will be?
GDT: We've decided to have The Hobbit span the two movies, including the White Council and the comings and goings of Gandalf to Dol Guldur. Specifically, the two movies will comprise the book.
PJ: We expanded out the universe a lot more, so that we weren't just staying with Bilbo and the dwarves on their journey, as the book pretty much does. We started to expand some of what's happening to Gandalf outside of that journey...
GDT: A bit of the backstory...
PJ: We do cover some of the events earlier, like Thrain (dwarf king) Thorin's father, and we're sort of fleshing out TH and expanding it sideways, up and down. We just decided it would be a mistake to try to cram everything into one movie. The essential brief was to do TH and it allows us to make TH in a little more of the style, if you like, of the trilogy, too.
GDT: To make a movie of TH that didn't go over 3 hours...
PJ: You would be rushing along...
GDT: You would be losing iconic moments. The animated version avoids Beorn, who is a great character, and some people always feel that you should lose the Spiders, or this or that. We wanted to keep every iconic moment that was in the book and give it some weight.
PJ: We've done a lot of things we hope Professor Tolkien would have approved of. We've taken events from the Hobbit and integrated them a little bit more into some of the broader themes that show up in LotR. BUT we haven't made TH any less of a fun, young, fairytale-adventure mix.
GDT: As in the book, the story starts at a more innocent point in Bilbo's life. He goes through darker, stronger stuff in the second part and at the end of the journey he has seen the darker side of the world. I think the whole point of it is his hourney, not only to a place but back again, and how that transforms him. That will stay.
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How are you going to handle the dwarves...
GDT: (answers with a long paragraph about the role of the dwarves - valiant, brave, funny, sometimes tragic and moving - will make them 3-D characters physically and dramatically)
PJ: We're going to choose five or six, pretty similar to the ones that Tolkien spends a bit more time on in the book, and develop some quite interesting relationships between them and Bilbo. We don't want them to be just Thorin plus 12 comedic sidekicks.
Article also discusses introduction of Bard, and the fact that Bilbo is largely unconscious in BO5A.
Re: unconcious Bilbo:
GDT: That's one of the idiosynchrasies, that from the get-go, I said, "That's one of the ones that we need to keep!" It's so unexpected. I think we're talking small tonal variations that are very beautiful. For example, unlike in the Trilogy, where monsters were not often articulate, in TH it's part of the book that trolls have very lengthy conversations. there are other idiosynchrasies that would not find themselves at home tonally in the Trilogy. But we are moving the notches a little bit.
PJ: We're developing a lot more character and personality in the villain side of the story, too. We are having to deal with Sauron a little bit more specifcally in this; how exactly he manifests himself and what form he's in, and that is ultimately going to lead into what he becomes in the trilogy...and what he has been in the ancient past.
So much to discuss, folks. And scans to follow
