In a nutshell: no. In the early stages of their collaboration, PJ and GDT planned to film the events in the book The Hobbit as a stand-alone movie, with a second movie, or ‘bridge move’ as it became known, used to address events outside of the primary storyline of The Hobbit, continuing to where the Lord of the Rings movies pick up the story again. Fairly early on, however, they confirmed that it made much more sense to film the storyline of The Hobbit over the span of two films, addressing events outside the story at the same time. ill span both films. PJ: “We just decided it would be a mistake to cram everything into one movie.”
Year: 2011
The latest episode of Hobbit in 5 is online! Take a look! Lord of the Rings and Hobbit contests announced. Hobbit casting and character studies all available in this week’s episode of Hobbit in 5. Hobbit in 5 features the week’s top Hobbit production news courtesy of the TheOneRing.net…all within five minutes time.
Ringer spy Kristi alerted us to these clips of Mikael Persbrandt, cast as Beorn in the Hobbit. “This one’s all in English. It’s especially interesting near the end when Mikael talks about entering a special world that some directors are able to create,” Kristi says. Mikael Persbrandt interviewed by James Lipton.
This clip, showing his work as a Unicef ambassador in Afghanistan, gives us another insight into Persbrandt’s character. “This is a role outside his acting career, and I think it does him credit, and shows a Beorn-ish side that the filmmakers must have seen in him.”
Merie sends this in: From iftn.ie – “Ros Hubbard is a world renowned casting director having worked on hugely successful films such as ‘The Commitments’, ‘The Lord of the Rings’ trilogy and ‘Father Ted’ with her family. IFTN caught up with the Irish talent spotter to talk about casting hobbits and dwarves for Peter Jackson, her trouble finding thin Irish children and ‘Father Ted’ bringing out her catholic guilt!” She basically confirmed that Saoirse Ronan has a part in “The Hobbit”. More..
linuxelf sends this in: Sir Peter Jackson was admitted to Wellington Hospital last night with acute stomach pains, and underwent surgery for a perforated stomach ulcer, Sir Peter’s surgery is not expected to impact on his directing commitment to The Hobbit beyond a slight delay to the start of filming.
TORN Staffer Ostadan writes: More information, with nice pictures, is trickling out about Fantasy Flight’s forthcoming Lord of the Rings ‘Living Card Game’. This time, the information comes from the French publisher’s site, for some reason. It appears that perhaps the game will be available a bit earlier in French (the buzz is that the English version will appear in April). The article reveals a bit more about gameplay and has several sample cards that you don’t have to read French to enjoy. More..