A recent CNN story about film tourism featured a woman who enjoyed two guided tours of LOTR film locations. Of course I was curious to know whether the woman, Michele Maro, had taken the Red Carpet tours that are advertised on TORN. A chat to RC tour director Vic James confirmed that indeed Michele had enjoyed her Red Carpet experience so much that she’d returned for a second tour – and she’s not the only one to have done that. “You’d be surprised how many people come back because they want to do the tour again to meet new LOTR friends or see New Zealand in a different season,” James says.
Day: April 13, 2009
“The Hobbit,” has to be cast but that just leaves more time for fans to speculate, guess and suggest regarding the casting of the two-films planned by producer Peter Jackson and director Guillermo del Toro.
There are a few givens. According to the decision makers, as many of the main characters that appear in both Jackson’s LOTR trilogy and GDT’s Hobbit films will be cast using existing actors from those roles as possible. And while media outlets trying to create news about the film have asked any actor they can find if they will appear, the list of sure crossovers are relatively small.
Ian Holm, approaching 80 years old, has stated that he is too old to play Bilbo because of the physical demands of the role and the required relocation to New Zealand. So the search for the main character is on. Most readers will be familiar with characters like Gandalf that belong to actors such as Ian McKellen so they will not be rehashed here because there is no debate about who will fill the role.
Read inside to find lists of names with links to help fans become familiar with many of the offered suggestions. Continue reading “Casting ‘The Hobbit,’ via TORn’s message boards”