Peter Jackson has confessed that he does not expect his new movie The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey to be nominated for any of the major gongs at the Oscars.
The filmmaker told Entertainment Weekly that he doesn't think his new Middle Earth movies will even do as well as The Lord Of The Rings trilogy did a decade ago.
He said: "I think we've got great possibilities in the below-the-line categories. Above the line, I don't think so much.
"I wish it was a year where we could celebrate Ian McKellen as supporting actor, or Martin Freeman - or Andy Serkis, for that matter - as a supporting actor.
"The acting awards seem to elude us, at least for these types of films. I don't know why."
And he went on to lament the lack of credit he thinks Andy Serkis is given for his portrayal of Gollum in the movies.
"There's a suspicion that somewhere between Andy and the finished result, other people are involved," he said. "Obviously there is a visual effects component; there is a CGI creature, and compositing and lighting and various things.
"But motion capture now is so well developed that every muscle in Andy's face is replicated on Gollum's face. And everything Andy does is accurately translated to Gollum. It is the closest thing to digital make-up."
The nominations for the Oscars will be revealed on 10 January.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey [uuid=3257fd41-ec2c-47ea-af21-c58ceed32b74]had its world premiere recently[/uuid].

SEE MORE IMAGES FROM THE HOBBIT HERE!