The internet is ringing the bells and loud with the departure of Guillermo del Toro from The Hobbit, who left pre-production after two years of work.
The big enigma is what will happen with the Warcraft film. For those who don’t follow film news, after Peter Jackson left the seat vacant, Sam Raimi was confronted by EW in April of 2007, about his interest in taking the reins of The Hobbit.
Sam Raimi is the top contender in The Hobbit director wish list according to the Collider journalist Jake Lasker — who said: “My bet is on Raimi. He was interested in the past and as this weekend continued to prove with Prince of Persia, video game movies don’t strike a chord with audiences. I say Raimi leaves Warcraft behind for Middle-Earth.”
Will Sam Raimi continue as director of the Warcraft film, or will he be lured by The Hobbit?
The departure of del Toro and the search for a new director for the Lord of the Rings prequel is news hot off the press. With development still underway, it’s a race against time to find someone to take over the project. We will keep an eye open and be alert on what transpires in the upcoming weeks with the development of the Warcraft film, whose script — according to Chris Metzen — is currently in discussion.
The speculation surrounding who might fill the director’s seat for The Hobbit, led me to ask Mark Hildebrandt, previously interviewed by us a few months ago, what he thought.
I asked him if he thought that Sam Raimi might consider doing the Hobbit instead of the Warcraft film. Hildebrandt said he doubts Raimi is leaving Warcraft, and continued to say that Raimi is a good choice for Warcraft. If it was true the precedent has already been set by the involvement of Raimi to get an A level Director. We talked about hypothetical directors, and Hildebrandt said Bryan Singer would probably be ideal because of what he did with the first two X Men films. Hildebrandt commented he is sure the film will be great, especially with Legendary Pictures, Sam Raimi, and Chris Metzen’s involvement.
The actor added that whatever the case, the time to make the film is now. If there is a change in director at this stage of the game, it might cause a delay. If the film was delayed to a date of hypothetically 2015, it is more likely to be less recognisable as the Warcraft that is popular now. It wouldn’t be fair to the World of Warcraft fanbase who have been loyal to the game for years. Without the Warcraft fanbase, there is no Warcraft film.
Hildebrandt denies knowledge of the Warcraft film, but he has been on IMDb and many other sites as the actor slated to play Varian Wrynn for a year. He was also rumored to play the new Mad Max in Fury Road. Just search for “Mark Hildebrandt”, and “Mad Max: Fury Road” on yahoo or google to see what I mean. He won’t confirm nor deny involvement in any of these rumored roles, but I did find out IMDb goes through production offices, so I have to wonder if he is involved.
Hildebrandt appeared, at the very least, to be top three for the part of Mad Max; if not higher, in Empire Online/Magazine last year. You really can’t even be considered for roles like that unless you are seriously a good actor. He has been trained in Western Medieval Martial Arts by the Stage Fighting trainer who trained Christian Bale for Batman Begins, so he would be an appropriate choice.
Let us know your concerns and thoughts. Do you support Sam Raimi to stay on as director of the Warcraft film? What are your expectations for this film or ideal scripts?
