Del Toro to Direct the Hobbit!

Much of this video of a press conference for the movie "The Orphanage" is not in English...However, at around the 40 second mark it is announced that Guillermo del Toro, who is standing on the right side of the screen, will direct the film version of "The Hobbit." Peter Jackson, who directed the Lord of the Rings trilogy will be producing and we asume contributing creatively in other ways. Del Toro was rumored to be in the running for awhile, but this is the first official word. Actually, I guess this isn't an "official" announcement from the studio...but del Toro is standing right there, he doesn't deny it! I think it's a great choice, not only was his last film, "Pan's Labyrinth," one of the most creative films I've seen in awhile...but like Jackson, Mr. del Toro does himself look like a hobbit, so I guess that's a plus.