For one of the most anticipated films of this decade, it’s surprising that the reveal of much of the main cast of The Hobbit two part film flew a bit under the radar. But some of the most anticipated film news in… well, ever, snuck out over the weekend. Click more to find out all about it!
The big news, of course, is that Martin Freeman , star of the UK version of The Office, Hot Fuzz, and Shaun of the Dead, has been cast as Bilbo Baggins! This has been rumored for a while now, but it’s now official. Very cool!
As for the thirteen dwarves that accompany Bilbo on his mission, some of them have been cast as well. Obviously WETA will have to do quite a bit of work to “shorten up” these actors:
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– Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield!
– Graham McTavish as Dwalin!
– Robert Kazinsky as Fili!
– Aidan Turner as Kili!
– John Callen as Oin!
– Peter Hambleton as Gloin! (AKA father of Gilmli, the dwarf seen in the Lord of the Rings)
– Mark Hadlow as Dori!
– Stephen Hunter as Bombur!
And the former Dr. Who, Sylvester McCoy has made numerous statements indicating that he was offered (and accepted) the small role of the wizard Radagast, although the contract hasn’t been signed yet.
Of course, Ian McKellen (Gandalf), Hugo Weaving (Elrond), and Andy Serkis (Gollum) are expected to reprise their roles from the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Other rumored casting moves have been floating around including Bill Nighy or Leonard Nimoy as the voice of Smaug (these two are my favorite rumors since it is for the dragon role!) but are still unconfirmed.
The film will begin shooting in early 2011 for an anticipated two-part release in December 2012 and December 2013. At the moment it’s unclear where director Peter Jackson will shoot the film — there appears to be some trouble with the New Zealand unions – about two hours ago news broke on 3news.co.nz that the Warner Bros executives wrapped up a meeting at the Prime Minister of New Zealand’s residence in attempt to resolve the issue. John Key now states that the chances of filming in New Zealand are about 50/50 which is much better than it was this time last week. We’ll report more on the matter once we get a better idea of where the next Middle-Earth adventure will actually be filmed!
Any thoughts on the cast? Let us know below!
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