The hilarious, affable and sincere key holder to the Tolkien film franchise discusses Hellboy, Halo, Weta, The Hobbit, how Pan is a fraud and why he’s on edge when having tea with Doug Jones!

Guillermo Del Toro: Thank you very much, here I am to answer anything you want to ask or throw shit at me, whatever you want. I’m here. Thank you very much for coming, and let’s proceed. (more…)

One fuzzy bespectacled visionary for another. That’s what is being reported by The Hollywood Reporter this morning, and fans being fans, are running with it as a done deal.

Guillermo del Toro is in talks to direct back-to-back installments of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit”….Principal photography for the films, which will be shot simultaneously, is tentatively set for 2009. The production budget is estimated at $150 million per film. The release of the first film is slated for 2010 and the second in 2011.

I’d be delighted should it come to pass. Guillermo was always my top choice in the instance that PJ were to decline the reins himself– and I’ve firmly suspected this would be the case ever since the big Hobbit announcement broke a month ago. It strikes me as even more exciting a prospect, to have a fresh cinematic take on Tolkien with Jackson’s hands still very much in the stew. This won’t -can’t- be less than anything of a collaboration; a double dose of geekiness straight to the veins

The mishmash of each director’s roster of players is salivating too– Doug Jones and Andy Serkis working together with Weta? Yes please. “You KNOW that Doug Jones is gonna be something awesome in this“, says Harry at AICN. Can’t argue with that.

Jackson and Del Toro are two peas in a mischievious movie-making pod. I can’t wait to see what emerges when they dip their collective hands into Gandalf’s wagon.

• The story breaks at The Hollywood Reporter
• Harry Knowles blabs about blabbing with GDT
• theonering.net’s take– where readers voted GDT second place

Know what a million geeks cheering simultaneously sounds like? Today would’ve been as good a day as any to find out, as Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” is officially announced with Peter Jackson producing. No director attached yet, and some sources make as if the position may be eventually filled by PJ himself. I think if he was gung ho about it, they surely would have sorted that out by now. We will not see the barefooted one at the helm again is my prediction, though I hope I’m wrong.

* MGM and New Line will co-finance and co-distribute two films, “The Hobbit” and a sequel to “The Hobbit.” New Line will distribute in North America and MGM will distribute internationally.* Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh will serve as Executive Producers of two films based on “The Hobbit.” New Line will manage the production of the films, which will be shot simultaneously.

* Peter Jackson and New Line have settled all litigation relating to the “Lord of the Rings” (LOTR) Trilogy.

Said Peter Jackson, “I’m very pleased that we’ve been able to put our differences behind us, so that we may begin a new chapter with our old friends at New Line. ‘The Lord of the Rings’ is a legacy we proudly share with Bob and Michael, and together, we share that legacy with millions of loyal fans all over the world. We are delighted to continue our journey through Middle Earth. I also want to thank Harry Sloan and our new friends at MGM for helping us find the common ground necessary to continue that journey.”

• Theonering.net in hysterics
• Aintitcool lets the fur fly
• Sideshow Freaks jump for joy
• The Shadow and Flame approves; one person doesn’t care
• All quiet on the Weta Holics front, hopefully not for long
• BDboystoys ponders the return of Sideshow Weta