So far, fine. None of the new actors are familiar to me. I just googled them and they look suitable for the job.I guess the confirmation of Cate Blanchett and Sylvester McCoy is a sign that the Necromancer side story will somehow be included. Ian McKellan and Andy Serkis are almost certainly returning, and while I wouldn't want his role to be overplayed or exaggerated in importance, I'd love to see Orlando Bloom in Mirkwood--but definitely not at the Battle of Five Armies. Also, while Martin Freeman may be Bilbo, I would still like to see Ian Holm incorported somehow.

Well...while I'm going on with a wishlist now, here's what else I'd like to see:

2nd Film: "The Rise of the Necromancer"
Christopher Lee back as Saruman
Hugo Weaving back as Elrond
Russell Crowe as Bard
Bret McKenzie back as Figwit ( )

And I would like to see Bombur done right; he's one of my favorite dwarves, but I have no one in mind.

Bombur is being played by Stephen Hunter (never heard of him myself!)

The full cast list so far is here on IMDB:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0903624/fullcredits#cast
Some interesting rumours - Leonard Nimoy and Brian Blessed anyone?

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I just read in our local paper today that the Hobbit will have Ian McCellan (spelling?) reprise his role as Gandalf!
Production will begin in Feb in NZ!

While having Nimoy in any role in the movie would be cool, he's actually retired now (there was a big news article about it some months back). It would take a lot to convince him to step onto the stage again, I think. I hope the rumor's right, though.

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In the local news paper a couple days ago... Peter Jackson went for surgery, thus further delay of filming the Hobbit.

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Heard about that too, what a bummer to be honest..

More delays!? Well that sucks. Maybe this movie is cursed or something.

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Painting Lineup: Mumakil x2, Rohan Heroes x8, Haradrim, SKoDA

Yeah dunno what the movie did but it p****d someone off.

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Got the latest from Weta News today:

START OF SHOOT DATE ANNOUNCED FOR ‘THE HOBBIT’ MOVIES

February, Wellington - Production company, 3Foot7 Ltd, is pleased to announce that the first day of principal photography for THE HOBBIT will be Monday 21 March, 2011.

This date has been chosen following practical considerations of the filming schedule requirements, actor availability and the NZ seasons. Shooting will take place at Stone Street Studios in Miramar and on location around New Zealand.

Confirmed cast include: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Ken Stott, Graham McTavish, William Kircher, James Nesbitt, Stephen Hunter, Rob Kazinsky, Aidan Turner, Peter Hambleton, John Callen, Jed Brophy, Mark Hadlow, Adam Brown, Cate Blanchett, Andy Serkis, Mikael Persbrant, Sylvester McCoy and Elijah Wood.

Director, Sir Peter Jackson, comments: “Despite some delays we are fully back on track and very excited to get started.”

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There are Dwarves in Wellington - loads of them. 13 to be exact. And we've just had the very first opportunity to see them all lined up side by side at a press conference at Park Road Post here in Miramar. Superbly exciting for all involved, not least, we think, for the actors themselves.

All the 13 dwarves and 1 hobbit were on the panel. The invited New Zealand media turned out in droves to welcome them to Wellington and to download all the information that was being offered.

Weta was of course there - eager to soak up some excitement from New Zealand media and from the milestone event. An opportunity to get closer to the cast on behalf of our fans. And to sneak in a few questions of our own, of course.

Please check out a short video of the cast being introduced:
http://www.wetanz.com/assets/videos/CastIntroduction/CastIntroduction.mov

There were several familiar faces and some that we perhaps haven't seen so much of, at least here in New Zealand.

The audio for the entire press conference can be heard here:
http://www.wetanz.com/assets/audio/hobbit/PressConferenceEdit.mp3

Read the story and see more photos on our website!
http://www.wetanz.com/meet-the-hobbit-cast/

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Richard Taylor is excited that start date is set

As you can understand, Richard Taylor is a very busy man. But he gave us a minute to let you know how excited he is that the start date for filming has been set and how Weta Workshop is bustling with activity.

Listen here:
http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=25055417&msgid=494026&act=Q6ND&c=272422&destination=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wetanz.com%2Fassets%2Faudio%2Fhobbit%2FRichard%2520on%2520press%2520conference.mp3

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Thanks for the update but...

What? No Hugo Weaving for Elrond??

A quick google search suggests that Hugo Weaving will be back for The Hobbit, maybe they just left him off in this report. I hope they get him, one of my pet peeves with films and television is the replacement of actors for the same role. At least Martin Freeman looks relatively similar to Ian Holm.

This is really, really good news. I'm so ready for this movie, I'm glad its dated at least now.

The more I look at Martin Freeman the more I think he would be great for the role. Im so excited. The only dissapointment I see is that Bill Bailey wasn't in it.

Whats my Fav Doc, Sylvester McCoy playing. i cant run the video.
Dr Who comes to middle earth.
Wot no Tardis.

bob

The big problem with the whole necromancer storyline is that Saruman is such a key figure, and getting Christopher Lee for anything other than bit-parts will be impossible on account of his health. The best option would probably be to have Gandalf do most of the stuff instead, which I would guess is what they're going to do.

A problem yes, but not a huge one. With todays motion capture technology, Lee could facially act out his lines sat in a studio, and have his face super-imposed over another actor performing the actual body action on set much like the Lightsaber battle at the start of Revenge of the Sith. An inconvenience, yes, but for the sake of the story and film continuity a viable solution around the issue.

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True, that's probably getting easier to do convincingly all the time.

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Its hard to imagine anyone beside Lee taking up the role of Saruman what with his legendary voice and acting but remeber alot of people thought no one could better Jack Nicholson's protrayal of the joker in Batman. Granted its not a trilogy but you never know what someone else could do with the character. Perhaps if they would go as far as rendering his face and head, they may render another actors voice or replace it with with Lee's ?
Im sure no matter what they do its going to be fantastic. Its going to be shot in 3D isent it ?


Have Gandalf do most of the stuff Saruman does ? that sounds like the worse option if im reading you right.

For anyone that's interested, the Hobbit weekly production updates: http://www.youtube.com/user/hobbitin5

Some pretty interesting information found here!

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wasnt aware Christopher Lee was ill....hadnt seen any news on it. I know he's old but is that the only issue?