Yesterday blogger Anne Thompson posted an interview concerning The Lovely Bones on Indiewire. Two interviews, really, since she talked by phone with Fran Walsh and by flip cam with Peter Jackson. (His is posted as three clips adding up to around 15 minutes.)

There are many, many interviews that these two and their colleagues have done during the publicity tour leading up to the release of their new film. I link this one because Anne Thompson asks more sophisticated questions than most interviewers, and the discussion gets into some interesting topics, including the two level of narration by the heroine, Susie Salmon, and the way Peter and Fran approached the filming of the murder scene. As usual when asked to go beyond the standard Frequently Asked Questions, Peter has some cogent things to say the choices made in the adaptation process.

I also have an excuse to link the piece because Fran also refers briefly to The Hobbit:

All along, Walsh and Jackson were also juggling other projects, such as District 9, which they produced. Jackson also collaborated with Steven Spielberg on Tin Tin and with Guillermo del Toro on The Hobbit.

In that case Del Toro joined the usual troica of writers in a room and slugged it out on two scripts. “He brings a tremendous earthy sense of humor,” says Walsh. “The biggest issue is always length.” She was surprised at how joyful she was to return to Middle Earth after being relieved to leave it at the end of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Casting began on The Hobbit in Wellywood this week.

Anne’s piece also suggests that the next writing project for the pair is the second Tin Tin film, confirming what PJ said in an earlier interview.