Guillermo Del Toro has revealed that he did not quite The Hobbit over a falling out with Peter Jackson.
We were at the stage where the collaboration was good.
Del Toro was on board to direct the movie while The Lord of the rings filmmaker was set to be executive producer as well as pen the script.
But earlier this summer Del Toro announced that he would be leaving the project but admits that Jackson did not have a hand in that decision.
Speaking to the Los Angeles Times the filmmaker said: "We were at the stage where the collaboration was good. If there were going to be any issues, we never got to that stage [in development]."
The director also revealed that the financial difficulties that studio MGM currently find themselves was not the only reason that he left the project.
"People kept misconstruing that it was MGM. It came from many factors," he said. "It wasn't just MGM. These are very complicated movies, economically and politically. You have to get the blessing from three studios."
"It was really the fact that every six months we thought we were beginning, and every six months we got pushed [back]. And before you could blink, it was a year, and then it was two years."
The future of The Hobbit is still uncertain as Jackson is the favourite to take over the directors chair but no announcement has been made.
Del Toro hasn't directed a movie since 2008's Hellboy II: The Golden Army but he currently has Frankenstein in pre-production as well as writing and producing Don't Be Afraid of the Dark.
Tagged in Guillermo Del Toro Peter Jackson