I'm not sure what's more trying for one's career: being an actor from the Lord of the Rings or being the director of Lord of the Rings. Sure, poor Sean Astin may one day be recognized as someone else besides "the guy who played Sam" (hey, it beats "that dude who played the football kid"), but no matter what else he does, Peter will always be the guy who made the Lord of the Rings movies, and fans aren't going to let him forget it.

If I had a dime for every time someone has asked Peter Jackson "When are you going to make a movie for The Hobbit" I would finally have enough money to by Fiji. Jackson recently offered this answer as reported by the Australian Associated Press:

"Three or four years would be accurate, I would say,"

Despite an apparent interest in making the film, Jackson's hands are tied by his production company New Line Cinema who is currently duking it out with MGM for rights to the movie. While New Line holds the rights for making theatrical release motion pcitures, MGM has the goods on Video and DVD distribution.

"I think there is probably a will and a desire to try and get it made," said Jackson, "But I think it's gonna be a lot of lawyers sitting in a room trying to thrash out a deal before it will ever happen."