Guillermo Del Toro in Talks to Direct 'The Hobbit'

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.

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.)