We were all devastated when the ambitious Hobbit project lost vaunted director Guillermo Del Toro, however the casting of certain key characters should go a ways to mopping up those tears.
Wide eyed Elijah Wood will once again fill the enormous, hairy feet of Frodo Baggins, though in a diminished role from his previous efforts as primary protagonist in The Lord of The Rings Trilogy. This may prompt an inadvertent fist pump from those who found Frodo’s previous ‘over-sensitivity’ a little hard to stomach.
Auld rubber face is back on the blue screen as malformed jewellery connoisseur Gollum. That’s right following critical acclaim for his work on 2010’s Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, Andy Serkis returns to satisfy fans and creep out small children.
Most notably, Sir Ian McKellan, who most of you will know only from his hilarious skit in EXTRAS, will be returning to his former role as Gandalf the Grey, Wizard proprietor of bushy beards, vehemently against allowing passage to large flaming beasties.
Hard to complain about that one!
These three fantasy icons join an already star studded cast including Martin Freeman (TV’s “Sherlock,” “The Office”) as Bilbo Baggins and Cate Blanchett (“Lord of The Rings” trilogy*, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”)
The Hobbit, parts 1 and 2 are targeted for releases December 2012 and December 2013 respectively.
*She were Galadriel. The Elf lady who had a wee hissy fit in the first one…