Guillermo Del Toro will not be directing The Hobbit. The director announced this weekend that he’s quitting his gig as the man set to film the prequels to the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Del Toro, along with producer and LOTR director Peter Jackson made the official announcement on JRR Tolkien fansite TheOneRing.com. Though the Mexican auteur has promised he will still write the scripts for the two planned Hobbit films, delays in shooting have forced him to make a difficult decision.
“In light of ongoing delays in the setting of a start date for filming The Hobbit, I am faced with the hardest decision of my life,” says Del Toro in a statement sent to the website. “After nearly two years of living, breathing and designing a world as rich as Tolkien’s Middle Earth, I must, with great regret, take leave from helming these wonderful pictures.”
Del Toro goes on to explain his reasons for exiting the films, saying “the mounting pressures of conflicting schedules have overwhelmed the time slot originally allocated for the project.” In other words: ‘this is taking too long and I’m a busy man.’
The Hobbit, fantasy writer Tolkien’s lead-up to the Lord of the Rings books, is planned as a pair of films. Jackson is overseeing production of the potential blockbusters from his headquarters in New Zealand. According to him, there are no hard feelings about the break-up.
“The bottom line is that Guillermo just didn’t feel he could commit six years to living in New Zealand, exclusively making these films, when his original commitment was for three years,” Jackson says in the same statement. “Guillermo is one of the most remarkable creative spirits I’ve ever encountered and it has been a complete joy working with him.”
Jackson promises fans that despite the delay getting before cameras, Del Toro’s exit won’t slow things down any further. “New Line and Warner Bros will sit down with us this week, to ensure a smooth and uneventful transition, as we secure a new director for The Hobbit. We do not anticipate any delay or disruption to ongoing pre-production work.”
The two Hobbit films are scheduled to premier in December 2012 and December 2013.