00:00Peter Jackson and Frances Walsh originally wanted to adapt The Hobbit in 1995.
00:05But it was ultimately The Lord of the Rings that was chosen first for the big screen.
00:09After the success of the trilogy, the same three writers decided to seriously revisit The Hobbit,
00:14But after financial disputes, New Line refused to let Jackson direct the film.
00:18He therefore turned to Guillermo del Toro, with Peter Jackson remaining the exclusive producer.
00:23The problem is that due to MGM's financial problems, pre-production delays are piling up.
00:28and Del Toro eventually left the project in 2010 to focus on his other future films.
00:32From there, it starts to smell bad.
00:34But Peter Jackson finally agreed to take on the role of director and the banks, reassured,
00:39finally replenish the coffers so that filming of The Hobbit could begin in February 2011.
00:44So big money problems.
00:45Which will not end immediately since the New Zealand actors' unions
00:49decide to go on strike to protest against the differences in salaries and privileges between them and European actors.
00:55But Warner, one of the three production companies for the film, is threatening to move filming to Europe if this is not resolved quickly.
01:01From there, the New Zealand government gets involved because they certainly don't want to lose the smelly chicken.
01:06Losses from tourism and other factors surrounding the trilogy are estimated at more than $1.5 billion if the trilogy were not filmed on the island.
01:14Everything finally works out and filming can finally begin.
01:17Well, when it doesn't want to, it doesn't want to.
01:30Despite all these delays, filming can finally begin.
01:33Knowing that all the technical teams had 5 months to create the visual universe of the trilogy compared to 18 months for the Lord of the Rings.
01:39Obviously, with so little time, concessions have to be made, and digital technology will fill this gap since most of the sets will be handled in post-production.
01:46Now, despite all the mess it may have caused and the stress of a more condensed deadline,
01:50Everyone seems to be having a great time on the set of the first movie.
01:53Well, not really everyone.
02:09Ian McEllen really struggles to play alone against a green screen for long days.
02:13He had a very difficult time with this period of filming.
02:15But when we see the astonishing result concerning the difference in size of the protagonists
02:32and what the camera can do despite that, we can say that it was worth it.
02:36It's quite paradoxical because this trilogy takes up the visual universe of the original trilogy.
02:40without ever really resembling him.
02:42And this is perhaps where we can talk about weakness in this trilogy.
02:45We can continue with the three original films, but which go from several
02:48hundreds of models for The Lord of the Rings to none for The Hobbit.
02:51From fully constructed, life-size sets to pieces of sets with
02:55green screen, and film at 5K 3D HFR.
02:58You can't make a miniature when you shoot with such precision and in relief,
03:02because it's too obvious.
03:03So now, more than ever, Peter Jackson adopts the philosophy "we'll see in the editing" because
03:19that he cannot do otherwise.
03:20Because Warner cut the grass from under his feet by imposing December 2012 as
03:24release date.
03:25And that's also why the director opted for a third film.
03:28Not for the money or whatever.
03:29But just because he couldn't finish this story in two movies.
03:32And inevitably, imposing a third film on production is the assurance that
03:35They accept because they will see profit in it.
03:37And that's the price to pay for the film crew to get an additional crime.
03:41in order to finish this story.
03:42And at some point, he showed himself.
03:45He was like, "Okay, now I don't know what we're doing."
03:48“When you go into a very complicated set, you don't have to do anything.
03:53You don't have to do anything.
03:54He has nothing to do.
03:55He has nothing to do.
03:56He has nothing to do.
03:57He has nothing to do.
03:58He has nothing to do.
03:59He has nothing to do.
04:00If I were a manager who didn't have 25 years of experience doing this in the past,
04:04It's almost impossible.
04:06I was told the team took a delay of one hour or an hour
04:10because I wanted to have my head completely clear
04:12and be able to place it.
04:16I spent a lot of "The Hobbit"
04:18feeling that I was not above it.
04:20The fact that there wasn't much preparation
04:22and that I did it like that.
04:24And even from a scripting point of view,
04:26Philippe and Fran and I weren't really
04:28the whole script to writing
04:30until our satisfaction.
04:31So it was a very high pressure situation.
04:34And quite frankly, we're going to be honest,
04:36when we know all this and we see the final result,
04:38We can say that it is a real miracle.
04:40Because yes, spoiler,
04:42I will be nuanced when I approach the films individually.
04:44I will talk about their faults because they exist,
04:46but I will above all try to convince you
04:48Yes, the Hobbit trilogy is a success.
04:51It could have been better of course.
04:53It can always be better.
04:54But we have to say that it could have been,
04:56and it should have, given all these controversies,
04:58be much worse.
04:59And I bet my life that if Del Toro's version had come out,
05:02everyone would have cried scandal and called for help from their messiah Peter Jackson.
05:06Well, the messiah is a little tired.
05:08But that won't stop him from delivering some incredible bravura pieces.
05:11And it starts from the first film with an unexpected journey.
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