Hobbit deal gets dirty

Back after RETURN OF THE KING swept the Oscars, you’d never guess there’d be any hesitation over making another Tolkien movie with Peter Jackson. Yet when the time came to think about a HOBBIT movie, things got ugly with New Line saying they’re moving ahead without Jackson directing. If that weren’t bad enough, now they won’t even let him near their building. New Line Co-Chairman and Co-CEO Robert Shaye told SCI-FI, “I don’t want to work with [Jackson] anymore. Why would I? So the answer is he will never make any movie with New Line Cinema again while I’m still working for the company.” [Awkward silence.] Uhh…. So how ’bout that weather? Unseasonably warm, no? “I don’t care about Peter Jackson anymore.” How about your local sports team?… “I’m incredibly offended.” Is it hot in here? “There’s a kind of arrogance [to Jackson].” OK, enough! I can’t take anymore. I’ve met Peter Jackson briefly (I don’t have the BFF-type relationship that AICN has with him by any stretch) and he doesn’t seem like the kinda guy that would inspire this vitriol, but Shaye seems extremely upset about the lawsuit, specifically, “he doesn’t want to sit down and talk about it. He thinks that we owe him something after we’ve paid him over a quarter of a billion dollars.” So the real loser here are all the LOTR fans who aren’t going to see Jackson direct THE HOBBIT. Unless, of course, New Line is unable to fast-track the film and the rights revert back to MGM and Saul Zaentz who would love to make the movie with Jackson. Stay tuned…