“Hobbit” Director Peter Jackson Recovering After Ulcer Surgery

It's too bad the One Ring can't protect its master from getting sick.

Peter Jackson, the director of the Lord of the Rings trilogy and its long-awaited, two-film prequel, The Hobbit, is recovering from emergency surgery to repair a perforated ulcer, reports E! Online.

Jackson, 49, was admitted to a Wellington Hospital in his native New Zealand after reporting acute stomach pains. A statement released by The Hobbit's publicist, Melissa Booth, said that Jackson is expected to make a full recovery.

"Peter's surgery is not expected to impact his directing commitment to The Hobbit beyond a slight delay to the start of filming," she wrote.

Waiting is nothing new to fans of Middle Earth.The film's original director, Guillermo del Toro, backed out last May and part of a production stage burned in a fire in October. Given those setbacks, a "slight delay" shouldn't send Tolkien fanatics into a frenzy.

But there's been good news of late: LOTR vets Ian McKellen, Elijah Wood and Cate Blanchett have all signed on to reprise their roles from the first three films.

Selected Reading: E! Online, Bloomberg, New York

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