Peter Jackson Says 'Hobbit' Delay Not a Delay

Even though the production window for The Hobbit has been delayed until at least next summer, Peter Jackson remains confident we'll still see the film in December 2011. That was the original plan, but internal and external factors have kept this one from inching closer to a start date, which has to be behind a recent rumor stating that Warner Bros., one of the co-distributors, was trying to push the film to 2012. That makes sense, since it's only about a 16-month schedule from a summer shoot in New Zealand until the film has to be at least in the final stages of post-production, if not completed. But Jackson tells Latino Review that won't be a problem, and the film will still be a 2011 release, and that he doesn't really view the delay as "a delay."

"Nothing has changed as far as I am concerned. Somebody wrote something on the internet and a lot of nonsense happened. You don’t want to believe everything you read on the internet. We were due to deliver the scripts and be shooting sometime around April and now I think I said in an interview we were shooting in June. And somehow people are now saying the film is delayed." "As far as I am aware, they are not delayed at all. I am not even sure when we are going to start shooting…we are delivering the scripts just after Christmas; they’ll be finished and we’ll be shooting as soon as we possibly can. But you need a certain amount of time to finish the pre-production."

At a certain point, these scripts - remember, it's two movies we're talking about - have to surface, and Jackson has maintained that until that time, the movie(s) can't get the green light. Only after that point, so far as Jackson's concerned, can serious casting discussions begin. It's one thing for Ian McKellen to say he's returning but quite another to go out and find a Bilbo Baggins. I still like oft-mentioned James McAvoy for the role, but he has the Wanted sequel and I'm with Cancer in pre-production right now, both of which are also looking for 2011. So it might not be him, unfortunately. Then again, Guillermo del Toro said months and months ago they were just a few weeks from casting Bilbo, so maybe a deal with another actor has already been done and it's on lockdown, but I doubt it.