: : : Nothing against Peter Jackson, who seems to have the proper passion for the project, as well as a great respect from the acting and film community, but I had never even heard of him before this all started up.

: : : Here are my choices:

: : : If we're including the deceased: Sergio Leone. Anyone who has seen "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," "A Fistful or Dollars," or "For a Few Dollars More" knows that the man was a genius, and had a gift for the kind of vision and drama that is necessary to pull off the trilogy.

: : : If we're only including the living: Bernardo Bertolucci. "The Last Emperor" is exactly the look and feel I'm hoping for here.

: : : Those I don't think are right (even though I enjoy their movies): George Lucas -- great imagination, but can't tell a story. Stephen Spielberg -- good story teller, but shameless panderer. Tim Burton -- ingeniously clever, but hopelessly saracastic. James Cameron -- he has the skills, but I can't see him putting Tolkkien's ideas ahead of his own.

: : : What are people's thoughts?

: : Spielberg seems to have matured over the last few years with Schindler's List and Saving Pvt. Ryan. I wouldn't be at all upset if he took LOTR as seriously and directed it. For those who fear the plush Hobbit toy franchise, I'm afraid that no matter who directs the marketing people will do their thing.

: A Spielberg and Lucas collaboration would be very interesting concept to ponder. Tim Burton would no doubt capture the darker nature of LOTR. Ron Howard is pretty darn good. I wonder how Stanley Kubrick would have done LOTR?

I've seen Kubrick's name mentioned from time to time on wish lists for directors for LOTR. I personally wouldn't want Kubrick (if he were alive) to do it. The film would definitely be Kubrick's LOTR, not Tolkien's. Cinematically I know Kubrick could get the scope and look and feel of Middle-Earth. Any one who has seen Sparticus and the terrific long shots of the Roman legions moving into phalanx positions to battle the "slave" army can't help but be impressed. But I think that Kubrick's ideas and concepts might over-shadow Tolkien's. In other words, the film would have more of Kubrick's stamp on it than Tolkien's. I think that the book needs a director like Jackson, who loves the book and wants to get as much of it on screen as is practical, and is a straight foreward and competent director. Of course Jackson (or any director) will have his own ideas about the book and will put them in the film, we can hope that it will be along the lines of whether or not the Balrog had real wings or just shadows. Or making Arwen a bit more active and included in more scenes to give the romance a more solid base. These are questions we all debate time after time, but in the end it's a matter of personal interpretation. Some will like Jackson's interpretation, others won't. From the photos I've seen, the production looks pretty good. But for many of us the test will be in the details.