Monday 7 February, Wellington – Production company, 3Foot7 Ltd, is pleased to announce that the first day of principal photography for THE HOBBIT will be Monday 21 March, 2011.

This date has been chosen following practical considerations of the filming schedule requirements, actor availability and the NZ seasons. Shooting will take place at Stone Street Studios in Miramar and on location around New Zealand.

Confirmed cast include: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Ken Stott, Graham McTavish, William Kircher, James Nesbitt, Stephen Hunter, Rob Kazinsky, Aidan Turner, Peter Hambleton, John Callen, Jed Brophy, Mark Hadlow, Adam Brown, Cate Blanchett, Andy Serkis, Mikael Persbrant, Sylvester McCoy and Elijah Wood. Director, Sir Peter Jackson, comments: “Despite some delays we are fully back on track and very excited to get started.”

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.”

When we posted a sketch of Smaug, little did we know the passion it would unleash. One of the great mysteries about “The Hobbit” films will be the design of Smaug, one of the most influential dragons in all of popular culture. Many have an idea of what the great worm should look like but only people behind the scenes know for sure and they aren’t talking. Thanks to forum member and Ringer Blueman for emailing us his sketch (on the right) to get the party started.  The sketch that gets the most ‘Likes’ will win a copy of the BBC Lord of the Rings radio play! Good luck to you all! [TORN Facebook]

Wellington, 3 February, 2011 – Sir Peter Jackson was discharged from hospital today to complete his recovery at home, following a recent operation for a perforated ulcer.

He would like to express his grateful thanks to the doctors and nursing staff at Wellington Hospital for their expert care and to all those members of the public who sent their warm wishes.

Any delays to filming THE HOBBIT, are expected to be minimal.

The pop-culture world has been reacting to the excellent magazine article in The New Yorker about Guillermo del Toro and especially about his designs on ‘The Hobbit.’

Here is a reminder to be media savvy. The material for that article was taken from interviews when all circumstances surrounding the film were different and when Mr. del Toro was still the director. Since then, after many delays, he was forced to move on with his career and life and get back to the long list of projects that were put on hold for “The Hobbit”.

The article was intended to be a profile on the unique genius of the director who has done things his unique way for the whole of his career; it was not intended to be a definitive account of what “The Hobbit” would look like or will look like now. TORn’s senior staff can tell you how deeply sorry the director was to leave the film and how much a fan of the production he remains.