Brett Ratner Researching Big Butts for The Hobbit?

You have to hand it to Brett Ratner. Though his unlikely bid to direct The Hobbit may be thwarted by either the will-I-or-won't-I indecision of Peter Jackson or the are-we-solvent-or-aren't-we troubles of MGM, Ratner still spent last night doing the appropriate, NSFW literary research (at least, we think so):

Sure, Ratner may have gone to Playboy & Taschen's The Big Butt Book launch party because of some, I dunno, fondness for an enlarged posterior, or perhaps he just wanted to meet cover model and adult actress Alexis Texas, but I think those are just ruses! Mark my words: when a Chris-Tucker-terrorizing Smaug is packing a lot more junk in the trunk than you ever thought possible, we'll know where this all began.

Brett Ratner Likes Big Butts (PHOTOS) [HuffPo]