Middle Age Hollywood

"Me, like any other geek, I really want to see Peter [Jackson] do the movie," del Toro said.

Does he think Jackson is close to officially taking the job? "I think so. I would say so," del Toro said. "At this stage, you need somebody that has been involved in all the stages, that has been writing. The logical person to take over is Peter."

Most fans of J.R.R. Tolkien and Jackson's work, for that matter, would likely agree. Del Toro also talked about how having to step down from the project was "heartbreaking" for him, not only because he is a fan of the source material, but because he put two years of writing and designing into what was supposed to be two films.

"It's a heartbreak for me that I cannot own that work," del Toro admitted. "It is almost like having a partial adoption of children, but you know, it really came to the point where we could not keep postponing [other film and book projects], contractually things went away. ... A lot of the stuff started to conflict in very bad ways."

source: examiner