I feel compelled to add one more post before I close my eyes for the day...

Creating things is difficult. Creating things in which corporations, artists, writers, accountants, estates, and fans have a vested interest is well near impossible. I know what The Hobbit team is feeling tonight. Maybe not in exactitude, maybe not in magnitude, but I've walked this road and have felt its grim contours. I still have that mud on my feet. I know what it's like to invest your heart and soul in something, and to see it gravely wounded by a business inclined -- perhaps understandably -- to consider everything in terms of numbers.

I am incredibly sorry for Guillermo Del Toro tonight. I'm sure he must feel that he's let the world down, even though he's suffered far more than any of us. I wish him peace. I have nothing but respect for GDT. He's an articulate, intelligent artist, and has treated his fan base with respect and candor. Surely he'll be back in the saddle in no time, and will continue to be a powerfully creative force for decades to come.

For The Hobbit and its captain-less crew I would wish perseverance. I'm still too young and too fresh to have accumulated the battle scars that eventually decorate all creative types. But I can speak from recent experience. Sometimes projects sail right off the rails only to come back far better for the experience. It can happen, I've seen it! Although Peter Jackson now seems unlikely to step in as director, he has shown himself to be a fine judge of emerging talent. Just as Del Toro would have made the perfect Del Toro version of The Hobbit, so can Director X make the perfect Director X version of The Hobbit.

I have not spoken to Howard Shore regarding this situation, though I will next week. But I know that Shore's love for this material is rooted in his abiding admiration for J.R.R. Tolkien's craft. I haven't a doubt that he will remain involved in this production.

Tonight's despondency is perfectly understandable, this is not the end of this tale. "... In the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer."

-Doug