We’re getting closer to a full cast for The Hobbit — in fact, with the announcements of today every major role in the two-part film project has been cast. Though we’re still eighteen months away from the release of the first film, with each excellent casting decision mentioned, the level of anticipation seems to somehow find a way to get even higher!
First, Deadline reported that Luke Evans will be Bard the Bowman, who plays a key role in the last third of the book (which I won’t spoil for those who have not read the novel… and why haven’t you?). Evans has appeared in Robin Hood and Clash of the Titans and will appear in the upcoming Three Musketeers and The Raven, so he’s creating quite a resume for himself.
But the even bigger news came later in the day: Smaug the dragon, who robbed the dwarves of Lonely Mountain of their home (and more importantly to them, their gold), will be voiced by none other than Benedict Cumberbatch (Atonement, The Other Boleyn Girl), who plays Sherlock Holmes to Martin Freeman‘s Dr. Watson on the BBC’s current Sherlock TV series. This alone will create fascinating interplay, since Freeman is playing Bilbo Baggins in the films and Smaug and Bilbo have several memorable moments between the the two of them in the novel. Then Deadline reports that Cumberbatch will also perform motion capture for Smaug, which I imagine only means his facial expressions as Smaug is a massive flying dragon. Still, I hope Smaug doesn’t look too “human”, but this IS WETA we are talking about — they’ll do a fine job.
Illustration of Smaug by J.R.R. Tolkien himself!
I couldn’t be happier with the casting of Cumberbatch, simply because the other names rumored to be in the running for Smaug (Leonard Nimoy, Bill Nighy) have rather “famous” voices, and I’ve always thought that if you use a voice that’s too famous for a film character it can becoming distracting. Cumberbatch’s voice has that perfect noble English enunciation and intonation that could do well in this role with the proper tweaking to make it sound more evil, mighty, etc. Don’t believe me? Check out the YouTube video below of Cumberbatch reading “The Little Red Hen” and tell me I’m wrong… he sounds great, but not “evil” enough!
Though the first film, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is set for a December 14, 2012 release, Evans and Cumberbatch will mostly (or perhaps entirely) be appearing in the second, The Hobbit: There and Back Again. which is set for a December 13, 2013 release.
After watching the silly video of Cumberbatch below, let us know your thoughts on the new casting moves in the comments!
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