Producer Peter Jackson and director Guillermo del Toro held an on-line chat last week where they talked about their plans for the two Hobbit films.
Near the end of the chat, del Toro is asked about some comments he had made a few years ago about not being a fan of sword and sorcery fantasy fiction. Of which The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings could be a part.
del Toro said, in reply, the following:
[G]enerally, I am not a “Sword and Sorcery” guy or a “Fantasy” guy — By the same token, I’m not a sci-fi guy but I would make a film based on [Harlan] Ellison in a second — or on [Theodore] Sturgeon or [Ray] Bradbury or [Richard] Matheson. I’m not into Barbarians with swords but I would kill to tackle Fafhrd and Grey Mouser…
Fafhrd. And the Gray Mouser.
The heroes of Fritz Leiber’s “Lankhmar” stories.
Guillermo del Toro would “kill” to make a movie about them.
I Want That! I Want That Now!
Dark Horse Comics announced a few years ago that they were going to develop a Lankhmar film. (They also promised an on-going comics series, but so far, nothing doing on that front.)
del Toro is the person I’d want making a Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser movie. He has the gritty, grungy feel of the stories. I can almost imagine how he’d tackle “Lean Times in Lankhmar,” which happens to be my favoritest short story ever.
And I’d imagine he’d use Mike Mignola, creator of Hellboy, for the film’s art design.
I have the four volume hardcover set of Fritz Leiber’s Lankhmar stories White Wolf released in the 1990s, with Mignola’s illustrations. And Mignola illustrated Epic Comics’ adapation of some of the stories that was done in 1990. Lankhmar is a world that Mike Mignola was born to draw.
Do I want a del Toro Hobbit? Of course. But if I had to choose between a del Toro Hobbit and a del Toro Lankhmar, I’d take Lankhmar.
Every. Single. Time.
Which only makes me sad to realize that a del Toro Lankhmar will forever remain only a dream.