I'd agree that Raimi is a longshot; but then again if he's a Tolkien fan, you never can tell. I'm trying to think who else would be on New Line's short list.
Gilliam may be on the list, but likely not near the top. I think he's perceived -- rightly, I guess -- as making fairly quirky films that don't necessarily perform all that well at the B.O. Plus he's known for being a maverick who's hard to control creatively.
Gore Verbinski has the B.O./FX/franchise cred to put him on the list. Plus he's just rolling off of
Pirates 3 and doesn't have any commitments that have been made public that I know of. Johnny Depp as Elrond with eye shadow!
The Wachowski Brothers are working on
Speed Racer, but they're known to be fantasy fans. They were briefly attached to an attempted
Conan 3 before Arnold became governor.
Jon Favreau's directing star is riding pretty high these days. He's been attached to a couple of very high profile, big-budget tentpole flicks like the endlessly developed John Carter Mars stories of Edgar Rice Burroughs and, more recently,
Iron Man. He's a dark horse who could end up in the chair.
What about a Mel Gibson directed
Hobbit, all in native Westron with subtitles?
