While Peter Jackson is still ironing out a deal to direct The Hobbit movies, it seems he’s pretty confident it’ll all get sorted, as THR reports he’s on a secret world tour, auditioning actors for roles in the films. Apparently he’s already been to the UK and New York, and he’s currently in Los Angeles, trying to see people while keeping things under the radar.
That’s certainly good news, as it suggests real forward momentum (as well as the vague possibility we’ll know who’ll be playing Frodo soon). However there are still problems. At the moment The Hobbit is mired in the financial difficulties over at MGM, which holds a 50% stake in the rights to the books. Although Warner is desperate to move forward and is prepared to cover the full production budget, they can’t do so without MGM’s agreement, and that company is currently pretty much rudderless while it tries to find a new buyer.
Warner is currently negotiating with the various MGM stakeholders to get them to agree to let The Hobbit go ahead, but as yet, nothing’s been signed. Until it is, Jackson can’t officially sign on either, as he can only make the movies if he knows that they’ll be in cinemas in 2012 and 2013. However, it’s certainly good that he’s acting as if he will make the films and that things will move ahead as planned. Let’s just hope he’s not counting his chickens before they’ve hatched.