We’re still talking about Peter Jackson doing The Hobbit

We’ve been hearing that butt scuttling around for weeks, but the rumor is apparently still circulating that Peter Jackson has agreed to sit in the recently vacated director’s chair for THE HOBBIT movies.

Don’t get too excited just yet — the studio situation is still about as stable as Smeagol, and there’s no greenlight or official statement. But Heat Vision says Jackson is “in Los Angeles this week quietly meeting with actors” (not so quiet now, of course), after already stopping in London and New York to do the same.

Needless to say, the downside is that even if Jackson finds the perfect cast, he can only hope they’ll be content with a promise and hang around for the official go-ahead. (Likely not a problem, realistically…)

And again, “Jackson’s directing deal has not been signed but it is close, and he is proceeding like he’s going to make the films,” although he is insistent that the legal and financial matters get untangled so the back-to-back movies can get back on track for release in 2012 and 2013. And who can blame him? The guy has already spent more time in Middle Earth than most of its small, hairy humanoid denizens.