Maybe you thought that by surviving MGM bankruptcy and accusations of casting racism, solving politically motivated labor disputes, and eventually dragging a reluctant cast back to New Zealand the worst was over and now The Hobbit could march smartly into production and from there into theaters. If so, you were wrong. Here’s another problem for the already difficulty plagued production: Peter Jackson’s health.

Stuff reports that Peter Jackson checked into a hospital with a perforated ulcer. He underwent surgery and is now resting comfortably. It sounds like he’s going to be ok but, as confirmed by a publicist working with The Hobbit production, it will cause “a slight delay to the start of filming” on the movie. Forget the movie though, what is making this film doing to Peter Jackson’s wellbeing?

He’s ok for now but some doctors believe that physical stress increases the risk of developing ulcers like the one Jackson suffered from. For the past year, Peter Jackson has looked nothing but stressed, and The Hobbit has been the cause of it. He didn’t want to direct it, but was sort of forced into it, and once he was plopped into the middle of it, was immediately under assault from all sides as at every turn the project threatened to crumble around him. That has to take a toll on you eventually. Maybe this was why he didn’t want to direct it in the first place. We all really want to see The Hobbit but, take care Peter. You’ve already given us three amazing Middle Earth movies, if that’s all you’ve got in you, then that’s all you’ve got.

Get well soon Sir Peter. Eat something! After all, maybe the answer is to bring back this guy, the fat Peter Jackson who wore womens' glasses:


That guy with the pipe above, portly and dirty and badly dressed though he was... always seemed so much happier than this guy, the skinny, sad Peter Jackson with fashion sense who directed subpar movies like The Lovely Bones and is now stressing out somewhere in New Zealand: