Evangeline Lilly & Barry Humphries Join Cast of The Hobbit

Peter Jackson yesterday revealed some new cast members for "The Hobbit". Former 'Lost' star Evangeline Lilly has been cast in his two part epic as the woodland elf, Tauriel which means Daughter of Mirkwood. Peter stated that he is thrilled that Evangeline will be bringing the first Sylvan Elf to life. You may of course remember that Evangeline's former partner, Dominic Monaghan starred as 'Merry' in the original Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Another inspired choice of casting comes in the form of Barry Humphries. Best known for his other personas as Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson, Barry has been cast as 'The Goblin King' in much the same way as Andy Serkis played Gollum, which can only mean one thing......it's motion capture and a gimp suit for Mr Humphries all the way.

Great casting and it looks as though The Hobbit is coming along nicely. I have had a few emails with a few people saying it looks as though Peter Jackson is 'winging' it with casting still taking place whilst shooting has already begun. This is actually quite normal for most films, especially large scale epics such as this. Sometimes cast members can come and go and you have to remember that not many films' scenes are shot in order of how they appear on screen.

The Hobbit is going to be an amazing spectacle, perhaps even better than Lord of the Rings. Peter is location scouting as I type this in beautiful New Zealand, and with the frame rate he has chosen to shoot in (48fps) and the 3D technology, it will seem like you are really there in middle earth.

Sherlock to become a Dragon !

It was revealed yesterday that Sherlock actor Benedict Cumberbatch will be joining the cast of "The Hobbit" to play Smaug the Dragon via motion capture and also to voice the Necromancer.

Benedict's "Sherlock" co-star Martin Freeman, who himself is playing Bilbo Baggins, revealed that Benedict was joining the cast at the Bafta's last month so it's good to confirm the roles he is playing.

This is of course not the first time an actor has played two roles in a Middle Earth film. John Rhys Davies played both Gimli and voiced Treebeard in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. Strangely enough, in a rather odd coincidence John recently voiced the role of Dr Watson in "Tom and Jerry Meet Sherlock Holmes" ????

It's no surprise really that Benedict has been cast in Peter Jackson's two part epic tale. In the incestuous world of film making its always been a case of six degrees of separation...........or more a case of six degrees of Kevin Bacon.......

Basically.....Peter Jackson is producing and directing the two Hobbit films. He is also producing the Tin Tin films which star Andy Serkis (Gollum) as Captain Haddock. They are being co-written by Steven Moffat and he writes Sherlock, which stars Martin Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch. Its a case of scratch my back and I will scratch yours I guess. In fact , don't be surprised if you see some Hobbit cameos in the second series of Sherlock.

Stephen Fry joins cast of The Hobbit

Peter Jackson has just released some exciting news regarding casting for The Hobbit on his Facebook page. Stephen Fry will be joining the cast as The Master of Laketown. 

Apparently Peter has known Stephen for several years and are currently developing a remake of The Dambusters.

I'm very pleased to hear this news as I am a huge fan of Mr Fry's work. He is a true English icon and I am sure he will fit the role very nicely.

Also mentioned in Peter's post is the casting of Conan Stevens, and yes that is his name. Australian born Conan is a professional stuntman and former Pro Wrestler. Soon to be featured in the HBO series Game of Thrones as Ser Gregor Clegane, in The Hobbit he will be playing an Orc named Azog and, at 7 foot tall, should fit the bill extremely well.

A Hobbit Round-up

It seems as if there is some new Hobbit news as each day passes so here is a quick round-up in case you didn't already know

 Saoirse Ronan

First...the rumour(s)....Saoirse Ronan (Lovely Bones, Hana) is rumoured to be playing Itaril. I reckon there is some weight to this rumour. Saoirse has already proved to be a fine young actress with a brilliant performance in the Lovely Bones and you could tell from the making of diaries on the LB Blu Ray bonus disc that she has a good relationship with Peter Jackson.

Lee Pace (Pushing Daisies, The Fall has been cast as Thranduil. I love Lee Pace's work. Pushing Daisies was cancelled well before it's time and I don't think I have seen Lee in anything of any worth, since so this is good news.

Lee Pace

Rob Kazinsky was cast as Fili in the Hobbit but has been forced to leave due to health reasons. Rob is best known in the UK for his role as Sean in the soap EastEnders. The role of Fili has now been given to Kiwi actor  Dean O'Gorman.

Dean O'Gorman

Andy Serkis has been named as Second Unit Director alongside his role as Gollum. This is no surprise as Andy has been a long term collaborator with Peter Jackson since The Fellowship of the Ring and he was also Dramatic Director for the Video Game 'Heavenly Sword'. You only have to look at the behind the scenes extras on the LOTR extended edition DVD's and witness the amount of input Andy had for the character of Gollum to see why Peter Jackson has given Andy this role.

Andy Serkis

Peter Jackson has revealed that The Hobbit will be filmed @ 48 frames per second which is double that of normal productions. This basically means a much, much sharper image. Plus the movie is being shot in 3D so it should be one of the best looking movies ever released.

Lastly.....another rumour doing the rounds is that Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Paul) might make a cameo in The Hobbit. There were on the Hobbiton set whilst film filming TinTin (another Peter Jackson project) so I think it's unlikely you will see them on screen but you never know........

Hobbit Video Diary

Peter Jackson has recently posted a video diary from the production of The Hobbit on his facebook page. I have to say this is very exciting indeed because we get to see a real glimpse of whats to come. With some really great HD views of Bag End and Rivendell and a traditional Maori Welcoming ceremony this 10 min vid has it all. I just hope Mr Jackson makes this a regular thing but I suspect most of the good stuff with be kept for the Blu Ray releases !

Click HERE for the direct link to Peter Jackson's facebook page or have a view of the video on youtube below