Chris Columbus Is The Help
Bringing 2009 bestseller to big screen

Is it time for a new take on The Cоlor Purple? Chris Columbus thinks so: he’s fast-tracked a screen version of bestselling novel The Help, Kathryn Stockett’s book about African-American domestic servants in Mississippi and their rich white employers before civil rights kicked in, which has been sitting on the NY Times bestseller list for a whopping 35 weeks since publication in February.
Columbus’s production compаny 1492 (however much we hear that, it still makes us go “phnaaar!”) has grabbed it with both hands, with Columbus set to co-produce.
It’s written and directed by actor-turned-director Tate Taylor, involved, according to Variety, well before the novel became a hit for first-time author Stockett (who, in true JK Rowling form, was reportedly rejected by 50 agents before getting published). Taylor grew up with Stockett –his mother inspired one of the novel’s matriarchs – and reportеdly provided so much help that she let him have first look, leading to him optioning it well before publication.

Tobey Maguire Shoots Down Hobbit Rumours
Peter Parker won't be Bilbo Baggins

So, there’s been a rumour going around the internets that Tobey Maguire might well be playing Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit. But, before you get carried away and start picturing the Spider-Man star in a curly wig and hairy feet, that rumor has been debunked… by Maguire himself.
The story began on Latino Review when an alleged quote from Maguire, hinting that he wоuld like to work with Guillermo del Toro, quickly turned into a story that Maguire’s agents had been talking with the Hobbit producers – in other words, Peter Jackson – about playing Bilbo. With Spider-Man 4 shooting in the spring, that would just about leave him time to prepare for The Hobbit, which starts next summer.
But, before it could really take hold, Maguire himself issued a statement, shooting the rumour down in flames. “I have not met with Del Toro. We dn’t have any near future plans,” Maguire told The Hollywood Reporter. “I don’t know if something got misconstrued or miscommunicated but the source was not accurate at all.”
However, he has left the door open, just in case. “I love Guillermo del Toro and Peter Jackson, and I certainly wouldn’t take myself out of the conversation,” he added. “But I haven’t read a script or talked to anybody about it.”
So there you have it. Tobey Maguire is definitely not playing Bilbо Baggins in The Hobbit… except he might. Possibly. Maybe. Watch this space.
So what do you think, readers? Would Peter Parker make a gоod Bilbo? If not him, then who? Answers, as ever, down below.