Guillermo Del Toro says F-U to The Hobbit, departs as director

Some big news hit over this Memorial Day weekend as acclaimed director Guillermo Del Toro has officially announced that he will no longer be directing the two-part movies based on J.R.R Tolkien’s THE HOBBIT. However, before you throw your computer out the window in a drunken blind rage of fury, he will still be writing the screenplays for both films. So not is all entirely lost…

This “tragic” news hit The One Ring first, with this excerpt from Del Toro’s goodbye note to fans of the series everywhere…

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. 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. I remain grateful to Peter, Fran and
Philippa Boyens, New Line and Warner Brothers and to all my crew in New
Zealand. I’ve been privileged to work in one of the greatest countries on
earth with some of the best people ever in our craft and my life will be
forever changed. The blessings have been plenty, but the mounting pressures
of conflicting schedules have overwhelmed the time slot originally allocated
for the project. Both as a co-writer and as a director, I wlsh the
production nothing but the very best of luck and I will be first in line to
see the finished product. I remain an ally to it and its makers, present and
future, and fully support a smooth transition to a new director.

Of course, the new director hasn’t been named yet, but at least it sounds like Del Toro is trying to make the transition as smooth as possible. The only thing this news does for me is that it gives me a reason to not give a flying f*ck about this movie anymore. I mean, without Del Toro on board, why should I care? I’ve seen THE LORD OF THE RINGS, I don’t need to see this. But maybe that’s just me…

To check out the full scoop and here even more about Del Toro’s departure, click HERE, and don’t be surprised if we don’t cover THE HOBBIT anymore from here on out… unless the new director is another cool kat.