5 Directors Who Could Take Over From Guillermo Del Toro On ‘The Hobbit’

Over two years after signing on for the project, Guillermo del Toro has left the director’s chair for New Line’s two-part “Lord of the Rings” prequel, ‘The Hobbit.” Considering that Peter Jackson’s original trilogy made close to three billion dollars at the box-office, we imagine that Warner Bros., who now own New Line, will make it a top priority to find a new director as soon as possible, even if the dicey financial situation of MGM, the co-rights holders, continues to hold production up.

With that in mind, we’ve dug around for a few possible directors who could step into del Toro’s shoes — assuming of course, that his script, co-written with Jackson, Phillipa Boyens and Fran Walsh, remains intact, and that shooting gets underway soon(ish). So, with no further ado, our five picks for potential helmers of “The Hobbit”:

Sam Raimi
Why He Might Do It: The “Evil Dead” helmer had long been rumored to be involved in “The Hobbit,” expressed interest after speculation swirled, and has plenty of filmmaker DNA in common with original “Lord of the Rings” helmer Peter Jackson (it was 2007, but it appears he was on short list before del Toro was announced): his early horror flicks were massive inspirations for Jackson’s “Bad Taste” and “Brain Dead,” and his play for respectability with “A Simple Plan,” “The Gift” and “For Love Of The Game” echoes the likes of “Heavenly Creatures” and “The Lovely Bones.” His three hugely successful “Spider-Man” movies more than demonstrate his tentpole experience, and he could deliver a really kinetic take on the material. Furthermore, he’s got a relatively clear slate.
What Might Prevent Him: While the reboot of the “Spider-Man” franchise has freed Raimi from his obligations to that series, he’s currently linked to the similar-vibed “World of Warcraft” movie (although honestly we don’t think that’ll ever happen). We’re also not sure if Raimi’s the right choice, quite frankly — there’s a lingering B-movie immaturity to most of his work that makes us concerned that a Raimi “Hobbit” would end up closer to the “Hercules” TV series (which was produced by the filmmaker) than to Jackson’s originals.

Neill Blomkamp
Why He Might Do It: Blomkamp proved he had blockbuster chops with “District 9,” which had as much spectacle on a $30 million budget as “Avatar” delivered on ten times that much. Lest we forget, Peter Jackson produced that film, and the two were originally meant to collaborate on a big-screen version of the video game “Halo,” so the helmer clearly isn’t afraid of taking on huge properties with built-in audiences. And anyone who thinks that Blomkamp lacks the ability for a movie like “The Hobbit” needs to go back and rewatch “District 9” right now.
What Might Prevent Him: The South African-born director is super-hot property, but so far he’s shown a reluctance to play with other people’s toys, preferring to beaver away on the secretive sci-fi follow up to his debut. While his pre-existing relationship with Jackson makes him a more realistic contender to helm “The Hobbit” than “Spider-Man” or “Superman,” we still reckon he’s unlikely to sign away half a decade of his life at this early stage of his career.

Neil Marshall
Why He Might Do It: Like Jackson, Raimi and Del Toro, Marshall has a strong background in genre cinema, and all those directors seem to share a certain kinship; a shared taste and mentality. His “Dog Soldiers” was a genuinely fresh take on the werewolf genre, despite its budgetary limitations, while “The Descent” is simply terrifying. Marshall’s been linked with a host of big properties in the last few years, including the likes of “Conan” and “Predators,” and seems ready to step up to a bigger canvas.
What Might Prevent Him: Unfortunately, Marshall seems to have peaked, creatively and commercially, with “The Descent”; “Doomsday” was a painful homage/rip-off to John Carpenter and George Miller without an original thought in its head, and “Centurion” wasn’t much better, and tanked completely at the U.K. box office (to be fair, the distributor more-or-less buried it, but our review from SXSW suggests that there was a reason for that…). If he can get his mojo back, we do feel he’s got potential, but he’s not ready for something as colossal as “The Hobbit” at this point. He’s also set to direct the horror flick “Burst” fairly imminently.

Sam Mendes
Why He Might Do It: While many find the director’s work sterile, there’s more than enough potential in “Road to Perdition,” “Jarhead” and “Away We Go” to signify a major filmmaking talent. Furthermore, the director seems to have suggested of late, with his flirtations with “Preacher,” James Bond and the “Wizard of Oz” prequel “Oz The Great and Powerful,” that he’s in the market for an FX-heavy franchise picture. We figure Jackson, Warner Bros and MGM could do a lot worse.
What Might Prevent Him: Mendes is a busy man, and his annual commitment to cross-channel theater work with The Bridge Project, which is already set to go in 2011 (possibly with Kevin Spacey starring) would seem to get in the way. As smart a pick as he might seem to be, we can’t see Mendes, who already seems ready to bolt from projects, committing the time necessary to pull off “The Hobbit.” Plus, frankly, we’d rather see him doing “Netherland.”

Joe Wright
Why He Might Do It: While he’s only got a few films under his belt, some of which don’t quite work (“Atonement” is 1/3 of a tremendous movie which never quite overcomes its tricky source material, while the few who saw “The Soloist” have totally forgotten it at this point), Joe Wright clearly has major chops — there’s enough in all of his films, particularly his debut “Pride and Prejudice” to suggest as much. His next film “Hanna,” a recent favorite script of The Playlist’s, gives him a bigger canvas, and marks a move towards action for the director, and we think he’d bring the project a degree of credibility that the likes of Raimi and Marshall lack.
What Might Prevent Him: Well, “Hanna” isn’t set to debut until April next year, and the project is only just finishing filming, so he may be tied up for a while, particularly if “The Hobbit” is meant to shoot before 2011 (though that seems unlikely now). But depending on how flexible the studio is with their release date, Wright seems like a terrific choice — he’s certainly one of our favorites.

The Obvious Choice: Peter Jackson
Why He Might Do It: Jackson’s already put an enormous amount of time into “The Hobbit,” and is a co-writer and producer on the film, which is, of course, a prequel to the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy that made his name. With a looming release date, he seems like the most sensible pick to take over — he’s presumably already on board with most of Del Toro’s choices, and wouldn’t need to reinvent the wheel. Furthermore, he’s coming off disappointments in the shape of “King Kong” and, to a much greater extent, the execrable “The Lovely Bones,” and could use one in the bank.
What Might Prevent Him; Everything: Memories on the web are short, but there is a specific reason why Jackson had to hand over the reins to Del Toro in the first place; namely, that he’d gotten into a very ugly, personal and public legal dispute with New Line — in 2006, New Line dropped Jackson from “The Hobbit” and started actively seeking other directors because the filmmaker declined to drop an already-existing lawsuit against the studio to recoup income from the ‘Rings’ films. The dispute caused New Line’s chief Bob Shaye to practically slander the filmmaker and say, Jackson “will never make any movie with New Line Cinema again while I’m still working for the company.” A year later they had reached an agreement which would see Jackson as a writer and executive producer, but not as director (del Toro was announced one month later in early 2008). We don’t know what happened behind those closed doors, but presumably part of the settlement was the decision that Jackson couldn’t direct the prequels. It might all be moot, Jackson’s manager has already said a return to the “Hobbit” won’t be possible, “because he has and has had other commitments and obligations to other projects.” Chiefly, he has to supervise post-production work on the Steven Spielberg-directed “The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn” (scheduled to hit theaters in December 2011) and then has to to contend with its sequel later this year which Jackson himself is supposed to direct, so a return seems almost out of the question. He’s also developing a slew of potential projects like “Temeraire,” “Mortal Engines,” and “The Dam Busters.” While he’s obviously the perfect choice, the chances of him ending up in the director’s chair seem very slim.

Honorable Mentions:
For a project as huge as “The Hobbit,” almost every director in Hollywood could be a contender, and there’s plenty of names out there who could still be in the running (hell, nobody thought Marc Webb was a big enough name for “Spider-Man” before he was announced). Big names like Peter Weir or Paul Greengrass, for example, who both seem like they could use a mega-hit, although neither seem like the right fit — George Miller seems closer to Jackson’s sensibility, but he’s likely to be tied up with “Fury Road” for the next year or so. Harry Potter’s David Yates would be a solid choice, although again, he’ll be involved in that series until next summer, while Kenneth Branagh is moving into the tentpole world with “Thor,” although he could have similar scheduling conflicts. John Madden would be another safe, prestigious choice, but he’s never taken on a project of this scale, and is maybe a little milquetoast, plus again, he’s filming “My Fair Lady” later in the year. In terms of newer names, Louis Leterrier is a popular name with studios after landing a solid hit with “Clash of the Titans” earlier in the year, although most right-thinking movie fans would be disappointed with that choice. The likes of Nimrod Antal (“Predators”) and Joseph Kosinski (“Tron: Legacy”) are also moving up into the big leagues, while Ridley Scott protege Carl Erik Rinsch is one of those directors who’ll be linked to big projects for some time to come. Or Jackson could go for a helmer cut from his own mould — someone like the Spierig Brothers, who were indebted to Jackson with their debut “Undead,” and are currently set to make a sequel to “The Dark Crystal,” or Troy Nixey, who’s behind the Del Toro-produced “Who’s Afraid Of The Dark.” Some have also mentioned folks like David Slade and Robert Rodriguez. The former could be a decent choice depending on how “Twilight: Eclipse” turns out and the latter seems too busy with homegrown projects, but the kid in him would likely love to take a fantasy stab at it if he didn’t have his own studio to contend with.

“The Hobbit” obviously still wants to use Andy Serkis, Ian Mckellen and Hugo Weaving and while none of them are getting any younger, make-up and effects, will presumably make it easy for them to reprise their roles. But as for rumors that Viggo Mortensen and Elijah Wood could make some appearance? If they don’t get this project off the ground soon, we can assume their involvement will end up a pipe dream. And right now, Jackson seems pretty committed to making this project work with another filmmaker, but with the legal woes, the rights issues and MGM’s debt problems, we wouldn’t be surprised if he simply walks away in the end, leaving the project to join the annals of legendary films that never came to fruition.