On this week of Hobbit in 5, Rebekah Platt delves into more character studies, updates fans on Peter Jackson’s surgery recovery, and covers more Hobbit casting news than you can shake a stick at. Plus a new Lord of the Rings: War in the North trailer is revealed.
Category: Hobbit Cast News
Like the character Bilbo Baggins he’s going to portray in the upcoming “Hobbit” films, Martin Freeman is daunted but excited about the journey he’s about to embark upon.
From Yahoo News:
“It’s very daunting – the daunting part is leaving home… I’m a real homebody, even before we had children, I was a homebody, so with children it’s like aww… I’m very excited though,” he told Modcast host Eddie Piller.
Martin initially turned down the role because of his commitments to the BBC detective drama.
“I had to turn it down because of being contractually obliged to do the second series of Sherlock for the BBC, which we are doing in the middle of this year,” he recalled. “I turned it down with a very heavy heart because things like this don’t come your way very often. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, as far as scale is concerned. It’s a huge, huge deal. But I was contracted to do Sherlock. I wanted to do both. When I found out I couldn’t do both it was very sad. And then it was very flattering when Peter Jackson rearranged the filming around my availability.”
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..
Our Swedish message board member macfalk has alerted us to a story over at Swedish website Nöjesbladet (the same that had previously broken the news that Michael Persbrandt had been cast in the role of Beorn) that talks about the Swedish actor prepping for the upcoming Hobbit films.
Here’s the English translation of the relevant bits of the article courtesy of macfalk:
This spring, Persbrandt has a super-tight schedule. February 15 is the day when filming begins for “The Hobbit” where he plays Beorn, a shape-shifter character on the good side. According to Nöjesbladet’s sources, Persbrandt is now working out twice a day to get in shape for the two films besides taking lessons to improve his English before debuting in Hollywood.
Find the rest of the transcription over at our message boards.
Read more about Michael Persbrandt and his character Beorn over at TORN’s exclusive Hobbit section.