Rumors run rampant around 'Hobbit' film

Guillermo del Toro wants to clear a few things up about "The Hobbit."

Rumors -- like the one that "Wanted" star James McAvoy has already been tapped to play Bilbo Baggins in the production that won't even start rolling for another two years -- have been burning up the Internet. And some about the film prequel to J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" are even based on things Del Toro may or may not have said.

The latest came from a Los Angeles Film Festival talk last month, in which Del Toro supposedly said he didn't want to do a second "Hobbit" feature.

"If you read what I said, it doesn't sound like that," explained Del Toro, who plans to make the second feature a kind of bridge between where "The Hobbit" leaves off and the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy begins.

"LOTR" filmmaker Peter Jackson is executive producing the two "Hobbit" films, which aren't even scheduled to begin shooting until 2010.

"Somebody asked me point-blank before we entered the talk, 'What if there's no second film?' So I addressed it from the stage. I said if there isn't a film, we won't shoot it. But I was saying we believe there is."

As for earlier statements that he isn't really into little furry-footed guys and dragons, Del Toro admits, "I did, and I can say it safely again: I'm not a guy who reads fantasy books and goes to fantasy movies on first impulse. On the same token, I'm a guy who can safely say I don't like sci-fi, but I like Ray Bradbury, I like Theodore Sturgeon, I love Richard Matheson, I love Harlan Ellison ... individual authors.

"The same thing happens with fantasy. I'm not looking for the latest saga with dwarves and barbarians just 'cause they're there. I am, however, that guy with the horror field. I will see or read anything that seems interesting in that genre.

"I made most of those declarations when 'Pan's Labyrinth' was at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival," Del Toro continues. "What is funny is, when I was promoting my movie, I did not know 'The Hobbit' was on the horizon. And I said, curiously enough, 'In film, the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy changed the way I viewed fantasy.'"