Peter Jackson says that an announcement is coming “sometime soon” regarding “The Hobbit,” the “Lord of the Rings” prequel that has been delayed and beleaguered by the financial troubles of MGM. When Guillermo Del Toro removed himself from the project, most fans got it in their minds that Jackson would return to Middle-Earth in his rightful director’s throne. As of now, nothing has been confirmed, but there’s at least one “Lord of the Rings” star hoping that Jackson steps behind the lens on “The Hobbit” — Dominic Monaghan.

“I can’t really imagine anyone other than Pete directing ‘The Hobbit,’” Monaghan told MTV News, adding that the filmmaker’s extensive work in creating the world of Middle-Earth would make it virtually impossible for another director to step into Jackson’s shoes.

“You have to understand — the world of Middle Earth has already been created by Peter Jackson, by his special effects company, both physical and digital, these computer generated characters,” said Monaghan. “It would almost be impossible for a director to come in and bring his own thing because how would he color Middle Earth and how would he create Gollum without those codes? Pete has all of those codes that make Gollum a computer-generated character and makes the Cave Troll and makes all of these special effects.”

“It’s almost like asking someone to paint a picture but giving them no paint,” he continued. “Pete really has all of the paint. Unless he’s either producing or directing, not only will the film not correlate with the ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy, but I think the vast majority of the ‘Lord of the Rings’ fans will boycott the film because Pete had so much to do with that franchise.”

For his own part, Monaghan would be up for returning to Middle-Earth in “The Hobbit,” though he has some concerns about the possibility.

“I wouldn’t want to cheapen the strength of ‘The Hobbit,’ which is really the story of Bilbo and Gandalf and various other characters,” he said. “To kind of cookie-cutter in the characters that people grew to love in ‘Lord of the Rings,’ I think might not be incredibly fair to an audience who really loved that book. But I’m going to know Pete for the rest of my life, and I hope to work with him several times before he hangs up his ‘Hobbit’ feet.”

Molly Sullivan: For the show-runners, can you talk about the genesis of this project? How many seasons do you see? If you go for two seasons, will you answer this question and then have another blackout and try to solve that one?

David S. Goyer: By the end of the first season, most of the questions raised in the pilot, including the one you see at the very end, will be answered. The over-arcing cause of why the blackout happened, that’s like our background radiation mystery of the whole series. I think, to really do the show justice, we would need at least three seasons, and it can kind of accordion out, Courtney says, to 21 seasons. [Laughs]

Courtney B. Vance: Rawhide.

DSG: I’ll be in adult diapers by then. [Laughs]

Marc Guggenheim: I’ll be in adult diapers by the end of the season.

Joseph Fiennes: That depends.

DSG: In terms of the genesis, it’s loosely based on a novel that Jessica found about eight years ago.
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Being ultra-secretive and mysterious, former Lost star Dominic Monaghan will only say that he is going to be playing Simon on the upcoming ABC television series Flash Forward.

During the Television Critics Association Press Tour, the actor admitted that he was told more, up front, about Lost than he was for this new venture, which he signed on for without even a script. But, he also explained that the draw for him was the great writing and the ability to play a character that was vastly different from his last.

In the pilot episode, a mysterious global event causes everyone to black out simultaneously for two minutes and seventeen seconds, and each person sees a glimpse of their lives six months from now. When they wake up, everyone is left wondering if what they saw will actually happen.
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18th century justice has finally caught up to grave robbers Arthur Blake and Willie Grimes. With the specter of the guillotine looming over him, young Blake confides in visiting clergyman Father Duffy, recounting fifteen years of adventure in the resurrection trade. His tale leads from humble beginnings as a young boy stealing trinkets from corpses, to a partnership with seasoned ghoul Willie Grimes as they hunt creatures unwilling to accept their place in the ground. The colorful and peculiar history of Grimes and Blake is one filled with adventure, horror, and vicious rivalries that threaten to put all involved in the very graves they’re trying to pilfer.

Bloody Disgusting: You are part of the Scareflix team, did the film develop within that group or was this something you brought to them?

Glenn McQuaid: It was based on a short film I did six years, which I wrote and directed, called The Resurrection Apprentice. And I met Larry Fessenden and asked him to be on the project. He didn’t produce it, he just the lead actor on it. And that was the start of my collaborations with Larry, as a director to his acting. I also performed visual effects for Ti West on his film the Roost, and some of the other guys, like James McKenney, the whole Glass Eye troupe of filmmakers. And I was just sort of helping them out, either with visual effects or title sequences. But I just always wanted to get a feature film off the ground, especially through Glass Eye because I think Larry just brings out something special in the filmmakers he works with. So I basically just twisted Larry’s arm and made him produce the movie.
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What exactly is ABC’s new show FlashForward about? Worldwide clairvoyance? Disasters? FBI agents? Kangaroos? Co-star Dominic Monaghan best described the show with two simple words.

I seem to agree with the man, the whole thing seems like a total “head f–k.”

The new show will follow the path laif out by Robert J. Sawyer in his original book, but what’s changed in the television version? We asked a few members of the cast to give us some insight into what’s ahead for the story, but no one would (or could) tell us much.

It seems FlashForward really is aiming to be the next easter-egg-heavy show with hidden tidbits everywhere, including easter eggs hidden in one character’s flash.

Dominic Monaghan is appearing on this new would-be Lost replacement, as a man named Simon. But that’s about all he’s got for us, aside from saying it’ll screw with your mind.
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Dom will be on Jimmy Kimmel Live! tonight. Check your local listings for the time and channel so you can tune in. :)

Dom will be appearing on The Bonnie Hunt Show tomorrow (April 30th), so check your local listings for the time and channel so you can tune in.

Thanks to Nicole for letting us know about the upcoming interview.

First holiday memory?

Lake Garda in Italy; I remember staying in a campsite when I was seven or eight with my parents and a guy coming round with huge blocks of ice for picnic boxes. He would sing this song which I’ve forgotten now – it was probably “Ice Ice Baby” – announcing that he was coming round.

Best holiday?

Holidays are all different depending on the company and time of your life. However I do remember a fantastic holiday to Thailand with Billy Boyd and Orlando Bloom in my early twenties. We were all single, young and up for an adventure. We went to Bangkok then took off to the islands.
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We’ve already been told not to expect a shirtless Hugh on Sunday, but we refuse to give up all hope. So when we chatted with Jackman’s Wolverine costar Dominic Monaghan we pressed why exactly H.J. doesn’t just walk around naked all the time.

“Because he’s humble,” the cute, former Lostie dished. “I think he knows that he can make girls squirm, but he just is quite humble.”

That’s not the end of it.

So did you get a good look at Hugh’s bod during filming? He looks naked in every preview.
There would be scenes that he would just have to be! Just [Hugh] in his underwear. You can’t really help but check him out.

Did you like what you saw? Is his “sexy” title well deserved?
He actually is the sexiest man alive, and that’s coming from a heterosexual point of view. He’s the finest specimen of a male human I’ve ever seen in my life! I kept checking him out, and I was like, what is this muscle? How did that happen?

OK, then!

If we’ve learned anything from this chat it’s that you can count on us to purchase our Wolverine tickets in May. What better promotion is there than “Hugh Jackman” and “underwear” in one sentence? Still think Jack-doll would score much better Oscar ratings too if he showed a little bit of skin. Humble, shmumble.

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