Guillermo del ToroSeveral of you alerted us to this story from Empire online: As part of an exclusive chat with Del Toro for the next issue of Empire, on sale Friday, we spoke to him further about many details, including the casting of Bilbo.

“I can tell you that it’s down to a few names that we all agree upon. And that our first choice…completely, magically, we said the same name. All of us!”

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LOTR ONLINE LOGO The folks from Turbine write: Wandering through the Chetwood and the Blackwold camp is a vile Warg that came with Éogan out of the North. Many an unwary woodsman has vanished in the Chetwood, taken by the evil Baugarch. Learn more about this terror in this week’s content update! Creatures of Middle-earth: Baugarch

Empire Magazine Logo Seán writes: The interview in the upcoming Empire is presented in a preview on empireonline.com: On Bilbo: “In writing the part I obviously am thinking Old Bilbo and Ian Holm. We are writing based on that performance, but other than that, we have ideas. I can tell you that it’s down to a few names that we all agree upon. And that our first choice…completely, magically we said the same name. All of us! We said this is the guy we would talk to, but until the pages are there you have to let the character tell you who he wants to be played by. You can expect at least a year before we announce any casting.”

PETA Logo Matt from PETA Europe write: Sir Ian McKellen and also Sean Astin have both been nominated for the Sexiest Vegetarian Celebrity title for 2008! You can check out the contest here. You might want to post the link on your site for everyone to vote for them – last years winners were Russell Brand and Fiona Phillips.. This year the running is wide open.

Christopher Lee ‘Wizard Week’ continues with the birthday of movie icon Christopher Lee. Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, CBE, CStJ (born May 27, 1922) is an English actor. He initially portrayed villains and became famous for his role as Count Dracula in a string of Hammer Horror films. Other notable roles include Lord Summerisle in The Wicker Man, Francisco Scaramanga in The Man with the Golden Gun, Count Dooku in the Star Wars prequel trilogy as well as Saruman in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy. Lee’s most important role, according to him, was his portrayal of Pakistan’s founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the biopic Jinnah. His most recent film is The Golden Compass, where he plays the Magisterium’s First High Counselor. Despite a critically acclaimed career that spans over seven decades, Lee has never been nominated for an Academy Award. At his peak he was 6’5″ tall and is ranked along with Vince Vaughn as the tallest leading actor of all time.