Tolkien's Middle Earth
Can Billie Piper Play Smaug?
by Honk Mahfah on Jul.17, 2009, under Doctor Who, Movies, Tolkien's Middle Earth
According to a Telegraph.co.uk report, outgoing Doctor Who star David Tennant is close to landing the much-sought-after role of Bilbo Baggins in director Guillermo del Toro’s two-film adaptation of The Hobbit.
Other reports list both James McAvoy and Daniel Radcliffe as being the other front-runners for the job.
Fueling the fire for the rumors of Tennant’s casting is a pair of convergent facts: (1) that Hobbit producer Peter Jackson is making an appearance at next weekend’s Comic Con in San Diego; and (2) that Tennant will also be appearing at Comic Con, ostensibly in promotional support of his final episodes of Who. There certainly appears to be some dot-connecting going on here, but it’s at least informed speculation.
Personally, I think Tennant would be brilliant in the role. If the casting should come to pass, I think it’s safe to say that it would be the biggest post-Who role ever landed by one of the Doctors, and would therefore represent something of a milestone for the series as well as for Tennant himself.
Stay tuned, as further developments will certainly be reported here when they arise.
Several Casting Confirmations for “The Hobbit”
by Honk Mahfah on Jun.12, 2009, under Movies, Tolkien's Middle Earth
Guillermo del Toro, director of the in-pre-production The Hobbit, confirmed on the Simon Mayo show this week that three actors were officially cast for the two-film adaptation: Ian McKellan (playing Gandalf), Andy Serkis (playing Gollum), and Hugo Weaving (playing Elrond).
More casting announcements are bound to start rolling in over the course of the next few months.
“The Hobbit” to Get Two-Film Treatment
by Honk Mahfah on Apr.17, 2009, under Movies, Tolkien's Middle Earth
According to an exclusive at Empire, producer Peter Jackson and director Guillermo del Toro have come to the conclusion that the upcoming adaptation of The Hobbit deserves to be told not in a single movie, but in two films.
Always planned to be two films, the Lord of the Rings prequel project had initially been discussed as consisting of The Hobbit for the first film only, with the second film being material that would directly link The Hobbit with The Fellowship of the Ring.
Jackson notes that having both films to tell the story of The Hobbit will allow the films to be a bit more in the style of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
