evangeline-lilly-on-playing-a-grittier-type-of-elf-in-the-hobbit-the-desolation-of-smaug-135649-a-1369409045-470-75This is just in from our friends on the Shadow and Flame message boards.

Evangeline Lilly Hits San Diego Comic-Con to Introduce New Children’s Book

The Squickerwonkers

Los Angeles, CA – July 12th, 2013 – Coming to San Diego’s Comic-Con next week, Evangeline Lilly, known for starring as Kate Austen in ABC’s LOST and as Tauriel in the upcoming The Hobbit The Desolation of Smaug film, will be introducing her first children’s book, The Squickerwonkers.
Continue reading “Evangeline Lilly Hits San Diego Comic-Con to Introduce New Children’s Book”

Martin Freeman waves goodbye on his last day as Bilbo Baggins.
Martin Freeman waves goodbye on his last day as Bilbo Baggins.
Peter Jackson has shared on his Facebook page that Martin Freeman has finished his last shot as the film’s titular character Bilbo Baggins. The filming segment currently underway is a 10-week period that was always scheduled for pickups (shots that fill in the cracks once a rough edit of the film is assembled) and scenes for the massive Battle of Five Armies. Bilbo, as written in the book, has a relatively small part to play in the actual battle with his more significant role happening in the lead up to the massive conflict. (Knowing Peter Jackson, this will really be a spectacle!)

Jackson, who shares photos and videos on his Facebook page, captioned a photo of Bilbo waving goodbye:

“Tonight Martin Freeman finished his last shot as Bilbo Baggins. The end of an incredible two and a half years. I cannot imagine anyone else in this role – a character that Martin has nurtured and crafted with love and great skill.

We have said goodbye to our elves, humans, wizards and now the hobbit. We now enter our final 2 weeks of pick-ups, and it’s wall to wall dwarves. These pick-ups have been gruelling and intense, but I’m so happy with what we’ve been shooting. These next two movies are going to be pretty great!”

Martin Freeman as Bilbo with Benedict Cumberbatch.
Martin Freeman as Bilbo with Benedict Cumberbatch.
Soon after, Jackson followed up that post with a somewhat historical shot of Freeman as Bilbo with Benedict Cumberbatch, famously his partner in their Sherlock Holmes television series. The two also figure prominently together in the next Hobbit film as Cumberbatch performs the massive dragon Smaug from his performance capture suit and has a key exchange with Bilbo. When behind-the-scenes content rolls out after the film, there may be more of them together on the Hobbit films but little has been seen so far. With the performance capture role, there could be precious little of the two actors together in New Zealand.

All reports and word from Jackson indicates there will not be pickup shooting next year but Jackson had a period of these after ever LOTR film and it is tempting to suggest there will be more next year. But with such a large principal cast, such an effort might be impossible because of scheduling.

Still in Wellington are the Company of Dwarves which could mean a heavy dose of battle scenes as audiences will want to follow each of them in battle. The book plotting calls for ferocious and deadly action.

LukeEvansLuke Evans, playing the enigmatic Bard the Bowman in “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” also tweeted that his last day on the film is over. Evans’ Tweet suggests he is off to work as Dracula after a summer where his “Fast & Furious 6” did big business at the box office.

Graham McTavish also tweeted his farewells to Freeman.

Bilbo1Gentle Giant has announced the next mini-bust in their line of collectibles from The Hobbit Trilogy. After a couple of bad guys in a row, they’ve now gone back to adding another of the good guys to the growing collection that Gentle Giant is creating. The next character to come into our homes will be our favorite burglar himself, Bilbo Baggins. As you can see from the pictures, we get Bilbo holding Sting on the same great marble-like base used with the other releases in this line. Bilbo comes in with a price tag of $70 for non-PGM members and $63 for PGM members. You have time to save up for ordering Bilbo as he isn’t due to ship until the second quarter of 2014.

bilboThe UK’s The Independent features an in-depth interview with Martin Freeman where he talks about playing the titular character in “The Hobbit,” Bilbo Baggins as well as other roles John Watson, Tim from “The Office,” and an upcoming movie with Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.

“I get more 12-year-olds coming up to me than I used to,” he says of his path on fame’s superhighway. “But, I promise, I still have a lot of conversations with people that have no idea who I am. Which is great for me as I usually just want to eat a bowl of pasta in peace.” He also says he gets more fan mail for Watson than Bilbo. You can read the whole article right here.