{"id":71610,"date":"2013-05-13T11:21:49","date_gmt":"2013-05-13T16:21:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/?p=71610"},"modified":"2013-05-13T11:21:49","modified_gmt":"2013-05-13T16:21:49","slug":"wsj-enter-the-dragon-tolkien-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/2013\/05\/13\/71610-wsj-enter-the-dragon-tolkien-style\/","title":{"rendered":"WSJ: Enter the Dragon, Tolkien-Style"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Benedict<\/a>Mention Smaug, the classic storybook dragon of J.R.R. Tolkien\u2019s \u201cThe Hobbit,\u201d and a ray of delight flickers across Benedict Cumberbatch\u2019s pale eyes.<\/p>\n

Smaug, \u201ca most specially greedy, strong and wicked worm\u201d of Tolkien lore, is for many children their first encounter with fire-breathing, scaly dragons. \u201cFirst one for me,\u201d Cumberbatch is quick to add. \u201cMy dad read the book to me and it was a bedtime treat if I had done well. If I had been a good boy, I\u2019d get two chapters as opposed to maybe one or none if I had been really bad.\u201d<\/p>\n

As his father, actor Timothy Carlton, brought the colorful characters of \u201cThe Hobbit\u201d to life, a film played out in young Cumberbatch\u2019s mind \u2013 decades before he would be cast as Smaug in Peter Jackson\u2019s own film \u201cThe Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.\u201d [Read More<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mention Smaug, the classic storybook dragon of J.R.R. Tolkien\u2019s \u201cThe Hobbit,\u201d and a ray of delight flickers across…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":85,"featured_media":71611,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1506,1300,4,148],"tags":[1313,1960],"class_list":["post-71610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-benedict-cumberbatch","category-hobbit-cast-news","category-hobbit-movie","category-hobbit","tag-smaug","tag-wsj"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t