Thanks to Ringer Lissuin on the TORn message boards we have the following translation of the article in Swedish paper Nöjesbladet talking about Mikael Persbrandt and his role as Beorn in The Hobbit. Warning: some film and book spoilers!
Peter Jackson tells Nöjesbladet: We’ll bring him in [for] more scenes
On 12 December, “The Hobbit” premieres in Sweden. But Mikael Persbrandt’s character Beorn won’t appear till next year.
“You’ll have to wait for film two to see him”, says Peter Jackson. “I look forward to it in the second film.”
Already the director, Peter Jackson, is looking forward to the sequel — and working more with Mikael Persbrandt. “He has created an extremely strong character,” he says.
For those who read “The Hobbit” it’s no surprise. Bilbo, Gandalf and 13 dwarves embark on a journey where they encounter many adventures in different places. About halfway into the book, they come to Beorn and his house. There are a few important scenes before the party moves on. At the end of the story, Beorn has a large and very important role.
As long as it was two movies, the meeting with Beorn was in the first. Now it’s moving to The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.
What can we expect?
“The story definitely has a lot of Beorn in the second and third movie. Mikael is a fantastic actor, absolutely wonderful. We will bring him back here for us to record more scenes for the third film next year. He is so good. Beorn’s the kind of character you want to write more material for”, says Peter Jackson.
The actors talk about Mikael Persbrandt:
Martin Freeman (Bilbo): “He is very good. I wish I had more scenes with him. He was popular among us actors. He is very funny. It would have been fun to play more against him. We hung out a lot. He went back and forth a lot to New Zealand.”
Ian McKellen (Gandalf): “God bless him! Micke was fantastic. I enjoyed being with him. Because his heart is in the theater, like mine, we had a lot to talk about. I hope to see him again soon. I admire him as an actor working in a language other than their mother tongue. Not easy. But Micke speaks English very well. It must be hard to travel back and forth as much as he had do.”
Andy Serkis (Gollum): “He is amazing. The scenes I directed him in, he was extremely bold. He is a very brave actor. He jumped right into it. Technically very interesting things, that he can shift between humans and bears.”
