In news that quashes pretty much every casting rumor about “The Hobbit” thus far, executive producer Peter Jackson has revealed that the casting process for the Guillermo Del Toro helmed two parter will officially begin this week with a wide net and an emphasis on finding untapped talent.
“We’re auditioning for every role,” Jackson explains. “What we’ve done over the years is discover a lot of interesting actors, like Orlando Bloom (in “Lord Of The Rings”), Kate Winslet (in “Heavenly Creatures”), Saoirse Ronan (in “The Lovely Bones”). So if you start looking and auditioning seriously, it’s amazing what incredible talent you’ll find out there.
“(These movies) have never been a star-driven vehicle. The star is (author J.R.R.) Tolkien and the world he created. We are not under any pressure. We want to find the right people. Casting someone to portray a hobbit is not as easy as you might imagine. They have to have a particular type of physical appearance and a sensibility. And the same with an elf or a dwarf. These are fantastical characters, but you’ve got to find the right people to play them, the right humans to translate these characters.”
Ever since the film was announced, actors linked to roles have included the likes of David Tennant, Michael Sheen, Daniel Radcliffe and James McAvoy for the lead role of Bilbo Baggins; Brian Cox as the hobbit, Gimli; and, one we wish had some truth to it, Tom Waits as an unknown hobbit. Most of which are now seemingly nothing more than wildfire rumors if Jackson and Del Toro are truly out for talent and compatibility, not name actors.
Jackson furthers adds that “apart from Ian McKellen, who we obviously want to return as Gandalf, we are not really offering any roles to anybody until we’ve done a casting sweep.”
Don’t be too fooled though, in this day and age, names still mean a lot, especially for a film that doesn’t have the go-ahead yet.
If we were a betting man, we’d probably put our money on Del Toro staple Doug Jones joining McKellen in some form or another. From the original franchise though, Viggo Mortensen has already expressed interest in reprising his role of Aragorn though that is dependent on if his character is included in the unfinished script for the second film, Hugo Weaving was reportedly name dropped by Del Toro as a returning cast member but the actor later revealed he had heard no such thing while Andy Serkis was discussed early on but hasn’t been mentioned since.
Maybe actor Stuart Townsend will make good? He was originally set to play Aragorn and then was let-go just a few weeks before shooting began (Peter Jackson seems to have a bad habit of doing this, using the same, “oh, we misjudged and he was too young,” excuse with Ryan Gosling during the 2007 shoot of “The Lovely Bones”). Maybe not. Townsend sounded rather bitter about his last-minute dismissal and said he was “shafted up the ass,” by the filmmakers when he spoke to EW a few years ago.
As Jackson reiterated last week, the project has still yet to receive the studio’s greenlight but plans on shooting by summer 2010.
“We were always planning to shoot around April or May next year, and as far as I’m aware, we’re pretty much on target for that. It depends on how quickly the studio greenlights the film. It’s not in our hands. But as long as we‘re shooting next year, we’re fine.”
The first and second installments of “The Hobbit” are tentatively set for respective Christmas releases in 2011 and 2012 which will mark two years of Jackson-dominated festive cinema – the first two films in his and Steven Spielberg’s “Tintin” planned trilogy are also targeting Christmas 2011 and 2012 releases.