John Rys-DaviesThanks to many of you who sent in this story from Empireonline.com. I’m sure we’ll all miss John as part of The Hobbit cast. From Empireonline.com: John Rhys-Davies was, of course, Gimli the dwarf in The Lord of the Rings, and gave the series many of its funniest and most memorable moments. And while Gimli doesn’t appear in The Hobbit, his father Gloin does, so we asked him recently whether he’d be back for another go. “I’ve already been asked and to be honest with you, I wouldn’t. I have already completely ruled it out. There’s a sentimental part of me that would love to be involved again. Really I am not sure my face can take that sort of punishment any more.” More..

Sean AstinTim writes: Thought you’d be interested to know, Sean Astin just did another comedic NASA video, again for the Spitzer Space Telescope. This time, he provides a voiceover role to support Felicia Day, as she explains some of the science behind what happens when galaxies collide with each other. We have YouTube links as well as Quicktime/iTunes HD files here.

Viggo MortensenViggo Peter Mortensen, Jr. (born October 20, 1958) is a Danish-American actor, poet, musician, photographer, and painter. His film roles include Aragorn in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, Frank T. Hopkins in Hidalgo, David Shaw in A Perfect Murder, Tom Stall in David Cronenberg’s A History of Violence, and his Academy and Golden Globe Award-nominated role as Nikolai Luzhin in Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises. He is to star in the upcoming film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s novel The Road as “The Man”. Visit: percevalpress.com

Viggo Mortensen in Men's Journal Pearl Sandybanks writes: While killing time in NY waiting for my flight back home after the concerts this past weekend, I wandered into a magazine store seeking to look at the newest Empire. Lo and behold, but Viggo Mortensen is staring down at me from one of the racks. Attached please find JPEG scans of the article. Words of caution: one sort of inappropriate term used, perhaps more that I don’t recall. Enjoy!! More..

viggomortenson.jpgThe adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s book No Country for Old Men won the Oscar for best picture. So the film version of his latest novel, The Road, is much anticipated. Stephanie West reports. There is also a lot of excitement surrounding the movie because it won the Pulitzer Prize in 2007. The Road tells the story of a father and son travelling across a burned-out America, ravaged by some unspecified disaster which the reclusive author has never explained. But as the film is shown in Britain for the first time, Channel 4 News talked to its director about Cormac McCarthy’s vision. More..