By Erin Ferrell, Columnist
Erin Ferrell
Nerds like me have been holding their collective breath for the last several weeks to see that (what?) in Middle Earth is going on with The Hobbit movie. After weeks of bad news, months of mishaps and year of wondering if this movie is even going to happen, Tolkein fans finally caught a break when it was announced that Peter Jackson, the mastermind behind the Lord of the Rings movies, will direct.
This is so badass I can’t even process it.
As you do nowadays, The Hobbit will be in two parts and will be shot in 3D.
It is currently estimated to be coming out in December 2012, so it’ll (it will) be a nice treat for those who survive the Mayan apocalypse.
I have a complex relationship with Tolkein’s work and the recreation of that work on screen. Most people either read the books first or saw the movies first, so whichever medium they experienced the story in second was an inevitable disappointment. I saw the film version of The Fellowship of The Ring, loved it, and eagerly devoured not only the Lord of The Rings books, but also The Hobbit, The Silmarillion, The Lays of Beleriand, and The Book of Lost Tales, 1 and 2.
For the next couple of years, the LOTR movies overshadowed Christmas. I became the unofficial world champion of LOTR Trivial Pursuit (challenge me, I dare you).
I watched the extended versions with hours of DVD extras until I could quote them. I even went through a phase where I referred to not only the cast, but also the key crew members and conceptual artists; as if they were close personal friends. I had serious mentor fantasies about Peter Jackson (which makes me highly disturbed at how attractive he’s become).
While I don’t expect that kind of fervor to recur, I am super excited that The Hobbit might actually be happening.
For those of you who haven’t been charting this film’s lack of progress with your heart in your throat, let me summarize.
This film has been delayed due to Tolkein descendants demanding money, studios not having money, Guillermo Del Toro stepping down as director, the miniatures studio being damaged in a fire, and most recently a denunciation from the Screen Actors Guild. Jackson says that this has more to do with relations between Australia and New Zealand, and that he might just solve the problem by filming it in Eastern Europe. I don’t really care as long as I get my furry feet and my Misty Mountains.
This column was originally published in the Oct. 13 edition of The Campus.
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