When David Yates was rumored yesterday to be in line to direct The Hobbit, I speculated this was more of just a discussion than actual talks, since he'll be busy wrapping up the Harry Potter franchise for a few more months and may not want to immediately jump into another massive fantasy project. Turns out Yates might not be as close to the project as it seems because the studio is still trying hard to get someone else to do the job: Peter Jackson.

Deadline Hollywood reports today that MGM and New Line are trying desperately to get Peter Jackson to do what seems like the logical thing and take over on this two-part finale to the franchise he built. Even as they beg Peter, though, they're coming up with some truly ridiculous potential replacements. Deadline mentions Yates, who is a somewhat logical choice, but also David Dobkin-- the guy who brought you Wedding Crashers and Fred Claus-- and that reliable harbinger of the apocalypse Brett Ratner. Really they would only need to throw McG and Roger Corman on the shortlist to prove they were going for a Producers-style "worst movie ever made" to swindle some old ladies out of their money.

Apparently one of the big problems is that there's not that much money to pay a director, and presumably Jackson would demand a pretty high salary for swooping in and single-handedly saving the film. And sure, Brett Ratner might be cheaper, but at what cost MGM? Learn from Bryan Singer. This is not a road you want to go down.