More del Toro Hobbit talk

You know, you’re first step is casting Bilbo – that’s the cornerstone – because to me a lot is hanging in the narrative in the relationship between Bilbo and Thorin – obviously because out of the Dwarf group the transformation that Thorin goes through, and the way Bilbo’s character reaffirms itself in light of greed and the desire of ownership that Thorin experiences once they find the treasure trove, you know, as they recuperate their claim to their kingdom and their origins there’s a transformation. And I think that you have to have Bilbo and him have a lot of chemistry. Because there are few events, there are a couple of events in the Hobbit and, at least grammatically feel climactic. One is obviously the face-to-face between Smaug and Bilbo – even more so than the subsequent destruction of the town and the destruction of Smaug – even more so. Because Bilbo and Smaug, in essence, in the narrative represent opposites. And another decisive moment is the delivery of the Arkenstone. Because ultimately there is character fortitude or a character resolution that is so strong – the fact that there is a choice and Bilbo takes it. And those events are enormous. And so everything revolves around Bilbo. I dare say not only about these two movies, but about it really resonating with the five movies, all together. So you know, I think that ideally that you don’t want to do is just – you want to cast that part for the character that ends up emerging from these pages, which you can deduct, kind of, from the book, but you have to construct through the screenplay writing process which is a very different process. And you don’t want to just tie yourself to anybody else until you have it.