"Lord of the Rings" fans couldn’t imagine an appropriate director for the "Hobbit" prequel until Sam Raimi’s name was thrown into the mix. But now that he’s available to talk about it during his "Spider-Man 3" press rounds, Raimi can’t even think about a vision for middle earth.

“I haven’t even thought about that because I don’t really know what I’m doing next,” he said. “It’s so soon, my ears are still ringing from the mix on this picture.”

It’s only recently that Raimi’s name would be mentioned with such major franchises. Less than five years ago, he was still that horror movie guy. Now they’re wooing him for more Spideys and possible taking over Oscar-winner Peter Jackson’s world.

“Well, I know that that will pass. Mostly I see myself as who I was for the 20 years of making films professionally before my Super-8 days and that was Mr. low budget schlockmeister horror film guy. You know, low budget crime thriller or low budget supernatural thriller. Although I have the occasional different picture, I always found that it was strange that Amy Pascal hired me to do this film. I really loved the film and I wanted it, but I thought it was a bold and unusual choice. When it had that tremendously successful franchise, I realized this too will pass. This is a very strange experience and I realized how unusual it was and I know that it won’t be here long.”