The Hobbit - Jackson and del Toro to write the scripts?

[Blackrat]

So I stumbled upon these news: http://www.reuters.com/article/filmNews/idUSN2034315520080820

I don't know what to think of this. Is this good news or bads? Should directors even try to do the writing themselves?
*Shrug*

Maybe someone knows better than me about these things.

 

[Hjorimir]

...along with Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, who wrote the screenplay for the Lord of the Rings trilogy (and with which they did a stunningly good job). I think it's great news that the same team will be involved with the Hobbit's screenplay...fantastic news, really.

 

[paradox42]

Agreed! I can't think of a team I'd prefer to handle it over them. Sure, they made a few changes from the books for LotR, but many of those changes were good or necessary ones, and one can't really argue with the successful result (unless one is a purist of the books, but I personally am not). So, great news!

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

It generally depends - some directors are also writers, some are not. Del Toro wrote Pan's Labyrinth (Oscar nominated), and both Hellboy movies (heck, looks like he's written almost everything he's directed). Same with Jackson - he's written or co-written everything he's done.

Since it worked pretty well with LoTR, I'm fine with it here.

 

[Traycor]

Should directors even try to do the writing themselves?

If the director is also a writer, then sure. In this case, both these directors have written tons of screenplays. We are starting to see more and more professionals that act, write, and direct their own movies. I wouldn't go so far as to say that it's common place, but it is certainly not unusual anymore.

 

[Andre]

While I expected this, I'm not confident. With LOTR, I expected some parts of the story to be changed because film and paper are two very different mediums - something that worked in the books wouldn't work in a movie and vice versa.

But so many of the changes had nothing to do with the medium. Watching the movies, I couldn't shake the feeling that Jackson thought he could write the story better than Tolkien.

Instead we saw scenes such as: Aragorn falling off a cliff and everyone thinks he's dead, only to return to save the day; Denethor slobbering all over his food, yet too stupid to summon the Rohirrim to help defend his city; Faramir dragging Frodo to Minas Tirith to give the ring to his father; Gandalf stating that Theoden led his people into a trap in Helms Deep and only Aragorn could save them all; and so on.

Bottom line, no one in the movies could make a good decision except for the members of the fellowship. Heck, the Rohirrim would never have come to Minas Tirith if not because of a hobbit snuck past the guards. Watching that scene I couldn't help thinking of certain beholders being suckered by a thrown rock...

I know many people love the movies and I won't argue the point - to each their own. For myself, the less Jackson has a hand in the writing, the more confident I'll be. As with the trilogy, I'll wait and see.

 

[Ranger REG]

I know many people love the movies and I won't argue the point - to each their own. For myself, the less Jackson has a hand in the writing, the more confident I'll be. As with the trilogy, I'll wait and see.

So, if you don't like it, I might like it?

Cool.

 

[Zaukrie]

I too am opposite of one of the posters. The LotR movies were truly great movies (other than the ending of the last movie, which suffered from what the books suffered from, lack of tight editing and getting on with it). The more Jackson and his partners write, the better.