Peter Jackson isn’t directing Halo. Thought I’d throw out a little clarification for any of you who might be confused. Peter Jackson isn’t directing Halo, he’s Executive Producing it, which means he gets to hire the guy who is directing Halo. We don’t know who that is yet, but internet rumor site IESB claims they do.
They’re touting Hellboy helmer Guillermo Del Toro as the guy who will direct Microsoft/Bungie’s uber-popular videogame to movie adaptation. Frankly, even they aren’t certain, but it’s a rumor they picked up while hanging around at a Universal Pictures sponsored press junket for King Kong. Universal is one of the companies helping to finance Halo the movie.
So is this true? We don’t know, but it’s not a bad idea. Guillermo’s a talented, big name director, exactly the kind of guy Bungie’s been saying all along they wanted to get involved. It’s certainly a lot more plausible than some of the other fan rumors we’ve heard. Fans have been touting everyone from Spielberg to Uwe Boll (well to be fair the only one touting Uwe Boll was Uwe Boll) as the guy they think will direct it. Guillermo is big enough that he’d fit Microsoft’s requirements for a guy of quality, but not so big that his hiring would be unbelievable. He's also a friend of geeks, and let's face it, that's the core of Halo's fans.
For Guillermo, the only catch would be that he’ll have to either drop or push back Hellboy 2… a movie which I’ll believe is happening when I see the trailers. It’s in development, but the first one barely made enough cash to break even, certainly not enough to justify a sequel.
Either way, we should have some sort of confirmation from the Halo people on who it’ll be within the next couple of weeks. Keep checking back here for the official word.
