Guillermo del Toro strikes me as one of the friendliest guys in Hollywood. He’s constantly giving interviews, speculating on his upcoming projects along with fans and talking freely about the films he loves.

But he may not be guaranteed to become even more of a geek hero than he already is. According to an interview del Toro did with TheOneRing.net, the director of Hellboy and Pan’s Labyrinth still hasn’t officially signed a contract to direct The Hobbit. He told the reporter, “At this stage anything I say is of no consequence for I am not yet signed to do The Hobbit. Negotiations advance but are still ongoing.”

It makes sense that the situation with The Hobbit would be up in the air, given that the company producing it, New Line, doesn’t really exist any more. But Warner Bros., which has control of all of New Line’s films, would be stupid not to sign del Toro this very instant, before something else goes wrong for this constantly troubled project. Del Toro says he’s still doing research into Tolkien’s world, “diligently going through all Tolkien material related to Middle-earth but only as a way of bridging a gap in my reading. I still respond the strongest to The Hobbit, but as an avid reader of Mythology I find a lot of his other writings fascinating.”

Guillermo, take it from us: You are the only person who anyone wants to do this movie, and you have all the power. Make them give you a contract, make it a good one, and then bring us The Hobbit movie that we’ve been dreaming of for years. You have your instructions; now go make us proud!