I can't say that I'm a big fan of the Lord of the Rings films, or even the books, even though I was a huge nerdy fan when I was younger.  Perhaps it is because I have different interests at my advancing age, but if there's a director whom I admire how he has tackled the imagination and fairy tales, it's Guillermo Del Toro. 

I really enjoyed his take on the Hellboy property, especially how he treats the fantastical in the second film, reminding me of the classic, and not always safe and cuddly, old school fairy tales.  However, the film where I think his talent really shown brightly was his Spanish film Pan's Labyrinth.  He tackled the horror of the Spanish civil war and the mind of a child and her mother doing what they need to to survive under the thumb of a tyrannical soldier/father figure and his men.  He seamlessly wove elements of fantasy and the girl's imagination with the real world engulfed in strife and war.

It's because of his treatment and skill at making fantasy fit more snuggly with real life that I think I would have convinced me to go see his version of the Hobbit, Tolkien's classic book prefacing his epic Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Mr. Del Toro announced on the Onering.net that due to time constraints and uncertainty of the solvency of the of MGM studios that he would not be directing the 2 part film after all. 

The announcement reads in part, "In light of ongoing delays in the setting of a start date for filming "The Hobbit," I am faced with the hardest decision of my life", says Guillermo. "After nearly two years of living, breathing and designing a world as rich as Tolkien's Middle Earth, I must, with great regret, take leave from helming these wonderful pictures. I remain grateful to Peter, Fran and Philippa Boyens, New Line and Warner Brothers and to all my crew in New Zealand. I've been privileged to work in one of the greatest countries on earth with some of the best people ever in our craft and my life will be forever changed. The blessings have been plenty, but the mounting pressures of conflicting schedules have overwhelmed the time slot originally allocated for the project. Both as a co-writer and as a director, I wlsh the production nothing but the very best of luck and I will be first in line to see the finished product. I remain an ally to it and its makers, present and future, and fully support a smooth transition to a new director".