It is a truth universally acknowledged that a space in want of a Guillermo del Toro is nigh impossible to fill. Still, MGM are casting around for a director big enough to pick up with del Toro left off in Middle Earth and helm The Hobbit (complete with all two years of Guillermo's pre-visualisation work). Is that man Potter director David Yates? The word on the web says yes.

The Wrap have done some digging around with Yates' agents and have confirmed that all these rumours are false. Which naturally means they might well be true. Sure, there's nothing been mentioned by Peter Jackson or old William of Bull himself, and New Line are all quiet on the Hobbit front, but it's a pretty plausible replacement for the still-to-be-greenlit project.

Yates has proven himself strong in the face of fantasy and CGI visuals with Order of the Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince and presumably will do the same with Deathly Hallows Parts One and Two - although he'll be tied up with post-production on those for a while yet to come, let alone promotional duties. Still, maybe he's got time: The Hobbit is a long way off (despite Ian McKellen's tweets about it shooting in December), or at least seems that way until there's a green light, a director attached, and some serious money thrown MGM's way.

They could do a lot worse than David Yates as director. After the effort del Toro put into The Hobbit, there wouldn't be too much left to get the project ready for production, and I rather liked Yates' Potter work - particularly Order of the Phoenix. And let's not forget, either, that he also directed the excellent BBC TV drama State of Play...