Guillermo Del Toro in Talks to Direct 'The Hobbit'

by Jarrett Martineau | January 28, 2008 at 08:17 pm | 300 views | add comment

Guillermo del Toro talks with Charlie Rose

This was in my basement hanging up and I didnt notice it until tonight

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This is promising news: Guillermo del Toro, the acclaimed director of Pan's Labyrinth and Hellboy, may take on directing duties for the upcoming Hobbit movies.

Guillermo del Toro is in talks to direct back-to-back installments of J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit," which is being co-financed by New Line and MGM.

Del Toro's name was on a short list of directors who could tackle the project, one of the most anticipated literary adaptations of the past decade.

It also appears the del Toro will have a sizeable budget to play with, if the deal goes through:

Guillermo del Toro is "in talks" to direct both Hobbit movies for New Line, meaning, presumably, that he hasn't yet signed on the dotted line but will soon be joyously spending the first movie's production budget of eleventy-one million dollars. (The actual number is even higher: $150 million.)