Mexican director Guillermo Del Toro is reportedly in talks with New Line Cinema to direct back-to-back instalment of The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien.Peter Jackson successfully adapted and directed Tolkien's Lord of the Rings which went on to become three of the most successful movies of all time, with Return of the King winning eleven Academy Awards.But Jackson was ruled out of directing The Hobbit after he became caught up in a dispute with New Line Cinema over money.However Jackson will produce the movies and, with De Toro, will oversea the writing process as filming is possibly expected to get underway in 2009.Del Toro, however, is not a stranger to the fantasy movie directing Oscar nominated Pan's Labyrinth as well as The Devil's Backbone and Hellboy, Hellboy II: The Golden Army is released this summer.But due to the writer's strike no one has yet been hired to adapt the popular novel.However the project, should talks succeed, is expected to be fast tracked once the strike issue has been resolved.FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw

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