But maybe not until part two, There And Back Again (due Christmas 2013), where war, madness and dragon rage will enter the picture.

“We always saw The Hobbit more in the golden light of fairytale,” says co-writer/LOTR alumna/Jackson’s wife Fran Walsh.

“It’s more playful. But by the time you get to the end, Tolkien is writing himself into that place where he can begin that epic journey of writing LOTR, which took, as he put it, his life’s blood. All those heavier, darker themes which are so prevalent in the later trilogy start to come into play.”

While it will be the job of part two to come full circle with LOTR, part one promises all the hallmarks of the work that swept Jackson onto the A-list. “When I took over from Guillermo, I had to make the movie I was imagining,” Jackson states.

“His DNA is in there, but I’m not trying to impersonate the way he would have directed it. I’m shooting it my style. I thought it was important I was the same filmmaker as I was 10 years ago; I wanted that unity.”

He’s grinning. “I’m back in my LOTR mode.”