Tom WaitsEpleterte writes: Again an awesome Hobbit casting rumour from Aintitcool’s “AICN: Downunder” column, From Latauro’s post: AICN-Downunder: your one-stop shop for HOBBIT casting news. There’s nothing like breaking the (admittedly-unconfirmed) news about Brian Cox getting all dwarf-like to bring your old sources out of the woodwork. Another trusted anonymous name from way back — who, I might add, had heard the Brian Cox rumours before I published them — has another name to add to the pile: Tom Waits. As much as I’d like to say he’s a lock, I’m told he’s simply someone the production is talking about — but they seem to be talking about him pretty seriously. But how inspired is this? So very left field, yet oddly perfect. And here I was thinking Cox was the coolest guy they could hand an axe to.