I really doubt there’s much substance to this rumor, but in the interests of reporting everything we can get our hands on, the unreliable but well-intentioned folks over at AICN say they have a source which tells them that Master and Commander director Peter Weir is being approached to direct New Line’s Peter Jacksonless rush job version of The Hobbit.

A few weeks ago the rumor was that Spider-Man franchise director Sam Raimi was being courted for The Hobbit’s open director’s chair. Apparently this rumor doesn’t contradict that one, because their scooper claims that both directors are being pursued in the hopes that at least one of them will pan out.

Now I’m still pretty pissed that New Line is ruining everything and refuses to work with Peter Jackson, but how cool would it be to have The Hobbit directed either by Weir or Raimi? Raimi and Jackson have a lot in common as filmmakers, so he’s almost a no brainer. But Peter Weir is so underrated, nearly as underrated as his last movie, the brilliant Napoleonic War naval epic Master and Commander. Forget about Pirates of the Caribbean, Master and Commander is easily the best sword and sail movie ever made. The film’s a masterpiece, and since there’s a whole series of books that it’s based on I’d love nothing better than to see Weir chained to the helm of a whole series of M&C movies.

Sadly, stupid Americans never showed up to see his movie. Master and Commander did great overseas, but only did mediocre business here in the US and so a sequel has never materialized. The good news is that it leaves Weir free to make something like The Hobbit, which, if you can’t get Peter Jackson, could be all kinds of cool.

Lest you think Weir’s a one trick pony, his previous movies include near classics like The Truman Show, Dead Poets Society, and Mosquito Coast. The Hobbit can’t go wrong with either Raimi or Weir.