Peter Jackson Won't Direct "The Hobbit"

But the project is going forward. The studio balked at his plans to make the movie thirteen hours long, and to portray Bilbo Baggins as a seventy-foot tall rhinocerous.

In a letter posted on Theonering.com., Jackson and partner Fran Walsh said an executive from New Line Cinema had called to tell them the studio was moving ahead with "The Hobbit" without him.

"Last week, Mark Ordesky called Ken (Kamins, Jackson's manager) and told him that New Line would no longer be requiring our services on `The Hobbit' and the LOTR `prequel,'" the 45-year-old New Zealand director wrote.

"This was a courtesy call to let us know that the studio was now actively looking to hire another filmmaker for both projects," he said.

Christopher Nolan is rumored to be the studio's first-choice to direct The Hobbit film, tenatively named Baggins Begins.

posted by Ace at 04:13 PM

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