Peter Jackson recently gave The Hollywood Reporter a one-on-one on-camera interview as part of their Director’s Roundtable. Check out what he says about The Hobbit and how they really are on schedule – if the studio gives the green light.

It may not be true at this point, but I can see him in it…Tobey Maguire responded to web reports by saying he is not in discussions to play Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit, and wasn’t considering it as he believed previous rumors that James McAvoy had been cast (which were untrue), but now seems amenable to the idea. “…I certainly wouldn’t take myself out of the conversation … if I was part of it.”

Peter Jackson cleared up a question on how The Hobbit will be represented as two films – that both movies are completely based on the book and split at a middle point that he and his writing team of Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens along with director Guillermo del Toro figured would work. This should ens speculation that the second movie might be an all-new filler story between The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings.

TheOneRing.net is reporting that filming may not start on The Hobbit until mid-2010, based on  a German interview Peter Jackson gave to moviereporter.net. No green light has been given for production yet, but they are still working on the scripts. Update 12/1: Peter Jackson clarified the schedule for SCI FI Wire.