Guillermo Del Toro's Monster Cameo Appearance in 'The Hobbit'

Director Guillermo Del Toro will put himself in his MGM Hobbit epic. In an interview with German television to hype The Strain, book one in the vampire trilogy, the director revealed that he will play one of the monsters in the film.

Del Toro might have gotten the itch to don one of the costumes because he invested so much personal energy in the monster design process emphasizing the importance of the monsters’ appearance within the overall mission of the film.

Speaking in an interview on German television, Del Toro said the creature he will play himself is “not an important one, just a background guy”. You can see the full interview, which is otherwise largely about Del Toro’s novel The Strain, at the bottom of the post.

Del Toro stopped by the One Ring messageboards to confirm the news. Here’s what he spilled:

"I had a hand on the design of the creature and I will personally sculpt the appliances that will be applied on my face and hands. I used to sculpt the creatures for NECROPIA (my FX company) and I miss it a bit. I will have a line or two and die quickly."

Del Toro has discussed his overall vision for the monsters of the movie with Total Film. Here’s a choice quote or two:

In The Hobbit, the creatures speak: Smaug has beautiful lines of dialogue; the Great Goblin has beautiful lines of dialogue; many creatures do. So we had to design them with a different approach because you are not just designing things that are scary. I also wanted some of the monsters in The Hobbit to be majestic. I wanted the Wargs to have a certain beauty so that you don’t have a massively clear definition: what is beautiful is good and what is ugly is not. Some of the monsters are absolutely gorgeous.

Early in production I came up with a very strong idea that would separate Smaug from every other dragon ever made. The problem was implementing that idea. But I think we’ve nailed it.

Another rumour, also from The One Ring, is that the first six months of shooting on the film will take place in the studio, as opposed to out on location. If true, this probably has some foundation in practical concerns, but it might just be motivated by an attempt to keep as much as possible of the look and casting of the film under wraps for as long as possible.

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Source: SlashFilm.com