By Mike Fleming at Deadline.com: BREAKING: While Peter Jackson and Warner Bros are figuring out where they’ll shoot back-to-back installments of The Hobbit, Jackson has begun to set his cast for the ambitious projects that will begin shooting in February for release in December 2012, and 2013. As Deadline told you last week, Martin Freeman is set to play Bilbo Baggins, the adventurous Hobbit whose adventures and discovery of the One Ring leads the story up to The Lord of the Rings. Freeman has appeared in films ranging from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Hot Fuzz to Love Actually.
Jackson has cast several other significant Dwarf characters.
Richard Armitage (MI-5 and Captain America: The First Avenger) will play Thorin Oakenshield, leader of the Company of Dwarves which sets off to reclaim the Lonely Mountain from a thieving dragon. Aidan Turner (Being Human) and Rob Kazinsky (EastEnders) will play Kili and Fili, members of the Company of Dwarves. Graham McTavish (Secretariat) will play Dwalin, John Callen (Power Rangers Jungle Fury) will play Oin; Stephen Hunter (All Saints) will play Bombur, and Mark Hadlow (King Kong) plays Dori, while Peter Hambleton (The Strip) will play Gloin. Continue reading “Deadline: Peter Jackson Sets First Names For ‘The Hobbit’”
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Fictional Frontiers with Sohaib which airs on WNJC-1360 AM Philadelphia did a segment with a TORn senior staffer regarding all the most recent developments with “The Hobbit”. You can catch it right here.
And, if you keep listening beyond the “Hobbit” segment, you can hear Naomi Novik talk about Peter Jackson and “The Lord of the Rings,” and “The Hobbit,” and her own Temeraire series which Jackson owns the rights to and plans to eventually turn into films.
Update: Thanks to our friend, Deleece Cook, you can read a full transcript of the TORn interview using the “Continue Reading” link below.
Continue reading “TORn senior staff goes radio to talk ‘Hobbit’”
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Shawn sends along this interview with the amazing Simon Pegg, when asked about his Hollywood friends he mentions Martin Freeman and drops this serious bomb, does this mean an announcement is pending?
“Martin’s the anti-me: a soul aficionado and a vinyl junkie – absolutely not a resident of the geek universe. Not the type of person who will relish the attention he’ll get for being Bilbo Baggins. Ha!”
UPDATE: Simon posted this on Twitter this morning. “Woah, woah, woah I did NOT confirm Martin Freeman was in The Hobbit. As far as I know, talks are ongoing. Hope he is. Great choice.”
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By now, many of us are aware that Martin Freeman was the first choice to play the role of Bilbo Baggins in the upcoming Hobbit films, and as many of us are also aware that he turned down the offer due to scheduling conflicts (though that wasn’t the end of the matter!) But there wasn’t really any official word from the man himself… until now! Empire Online managed to snag an interview with Freeman on The Hobbit, and for fans in the “Freeman for Bilbo” camp, there seems to be hope yet.
Here follow a couple of snippets from the interview:
“I did have to say no to it [an offer to play Bilbo Baggins in the upcoming Hobbit films] for the second series of Sherlock. But if something could be worked out, that would be great. I did it [turn down the role] with a heavy heart, definitely.
If there is any outside possibility [of finding a way to fit The Hobbit into his schedule], then that would be great. But I’ve learned not to think too much or hope too much about stuff. It will happen if it happens.”
Of interest is Freeman’s thoughts on an older actor portraying Bilbo Baggins:
“Bilbo isn’t 20 at this stage of the story, and I reckon I could do a young Ian Holm. I think I could give that a go.”
Head over to Empire Online to read more of the interview.
Thanks to message board member Silmaril for the heads-up.
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Virgin Media writes: Who’s playing Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit? Good question. We haven’t a clue, although that’s not to say there haven’t been a few actors rumoured for the part. Ian Holm, who played Bilbo in the Lord Of The Rings trilogy, won’t reprise his role, meaning James McAvoy, Daniel Radcliffe, Tobey Maguire, David Tennant or Martin Freeman could play the hairy-footed hobbit. As long as it’s not Shia LaBeouf, we’re happy. More..
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Wired.com writes: From heated news on the forthcoming Hobbit films — The Office’s Martin Freeman as Bilbo? — to Tuesday’s Blu-ray release of Peter Jackson’s supernova The Lord of the Rings adaptation, J.R.R. Tolkien’s sprawling epic is ruling the news cycle just as it has ruled the fantasy genre for decades. We’re leaping into the fray with a gallery of our favorite fantasy film epics, led by Jackson’s Oscar-winning trilogy.
We’re also handing off an engorged Lord of the Rings prize package to sate one lucky Sméagol obsessively combing the internets for a precious fix. It includes Blu-ray discs for all three films — The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King — as well bookmarks, a jade necklace, a blue ornament, a deck of cards and a travel candle. One prize package to rule them all, as Gandalf might have said, if he were cleaning out New Line Cinema’s promotional warehouse. More..
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