The staff here at TheOneRing.net is dedicated to bringing you, our readers, the most up-to-date, thorough coverage of the Hobbit movies available on the internet. To that end, we’re excited to unveil a brand new section of the site, accessible by clicking the “The Hobbit” icon at the top right of the Home Page. In this “one stop shop” you’ll find detailed biographies of all the cast members as they’re announced, bios of the corresponding characters in the book, and a Hobbit FAQ that will be updated regularly as the production moves along. It also features some stunning character pictures from our guest artists who so far include Charles Burggraf, Colleen Doran, Donnato Giancola and Ted Nasmith. We invite you to send along any ideas you have for future updates and, as always, to join us on our Hobbit Movie discussion board and/or in Barliman’s chatroom.

Many, many thanks to the following staffers and members who contributed to getting the new Hobbit section of the site ready for its debut: Ainu Laire, Altaira, batik, Calisuri, deej, dernwyn, entmaiden, Garfeimao, grammaboodawg, Hamfast_Gamgee, Kangi Ska, Magpie, MrCere, N.E. Brigand, NottaSackville, Quickbeam, Sarumann, weaver, Xoanon.

TORn message board member AlexMaglor has pointed us to a great interview (albeit in Spanish) with Martin Freeman over at Spanish website elpais.com. But thanks to the linguistic skills of message board member Empedocles, we’ve now got the entire interview translated in English.

Here’s some snippets from the translated interview:

“I know my work plan” says Freeman. “I start in January, then I’ll have a break in the summer so I can shoot the second season of Sherlock, the BBC show where I portray Watson, and then I’ll be back in New Zealand in September in order to finish the movie by the end of the year”. The Englishman says summer because he’s thinking about the northern hemisphere seasons, but it will be winter in New Zealand.

“I wasn’t a fan of Tolkien before, I am now. A couple of weeks ago, I tried Bilbo’s hairy feet for the first time, and also the ears, although mine are big enough already, and the hair too. Moreover, they made molds out of those parts of my body since I’m going to be using prosthetics for many months. How did I look? Really different… but I’m ready to be Bilbo.”

Head over to our message boards for the translated interview and to read about Freeman’s conversations with Guillermo and PJ during the past couple of months.

Spy Nia sends in an entertaining open letter to Peter Jackson from Wired.com. It touches on a lot of concerns or thoughts that fans express every day on our message boards and with a dose of humor:

Mr. Jackson … Can I call you Peter? . . . Frankly, between the Star Wars prequels and the Matrix sequels, if it weren’t for you I would have lost my faith in the whole idea of corporate-backed blockbuster geek franchises. I’m also glad to hear about the casting, specifically that Nic Cage will not be playing Bilbo Baggins. I heard a rumor he was gunning for the part. If so, good for you for not giving in. Nic Cage is like a peanut allergy to me. I can’t even go see a movie that was processed in the same factory as a Nic Cage movie.

You can read the whole entry right here.

Fictional Frontiers with Sohaib is talking a lot of “Hobbit,” these days as news comes out fast and furious. Sohaib keeps inviting the TORn staff back and we keep on talking. You can hear the latest segment here along with some other great topics including “Star Wars”.

TheOneRing.net would like to wish a very happy birthday to Sir Peter! New Zealand filmmaker, producer and screenwriter, Peter Jackson is best known for The Lord of the Rings trilogy adapted from the novel by J. R. R. Tolkien. He is also known for his 2005 remake of King Kong and as the producer of the critically acclaimed film District 9. We venture to say this past year was more eventful than PJ ever imagined it would be. Now that things seem to be back on track for “The Hobbit” to move forward, we wish Peter a productive and successful upcoming year.

New Line, Warner Bros and MGM are pleased to have concluded successful discussions with the New Zealand government this past week. We’d like to thank Prime Minister Key, his Cabinet and the other dedicated New Zealand officials for their support and cooperation, which helped assuage our concerns and enabled us to keep The Hobbit in its proper home of New Zealand.

We’d also like to express very special appreciation to Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and the people of New Zealand for their tireless support of The Hobbit and their commitment to maintain and grow their vibrant film industry. Filming is scheduled to begin in February 2011 and we look forward to returning to Middle-earth.