The Hobbit Movie Bags its Bilbo

Logan Westbrook

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Feb 21, 2008
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The Hobbit Movie Bags its Bilbo

What has Peter Jackson got in his pocket? Why, it's a cast list for the Hobbit movie.

We knew that someone had a date with Gollum under a mountain, but until today, we didn't know who. Peter Jackson, along with the heads of New Line Cinema, MGM and Warner Bros., has announced a partial cast list for the upcoming Hobbit movies, including most of the dwarves and the movie's titular halfling.

Martin Freeman, star of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie and the British version of The Office will play the lead character, Bilbo Baggins. Jackson said that despite all the rumors and speculation about the role, he had known that Freeman was perfect for the part from the moment he'd met him, adding that, much like Bilbo, Freeman was "intelligent, funny, surprising, and brave." As well as Bilbo, Jackson has cast eight of the thirteen dwarves that will venture off to Lonely Mountain to reclaim it from the dragon Smaug. Richard Armitage, who recently appeared in the UK TV show Robin Hood and will play Heinz Kruger in the upcoming Captain America movie, is playing Thorin, the head of the dwarven band and heir to kingdom located inside the mountain.

Rounding out the band are Aiden Turner and Rob Kazinsky, who appear in British TV shows Being Human and EastEnders respectively, and play Thorin's nephews Kili and Fili. Graham McTavish, who played Mikhail Novakovich in 24 and has lent his voice to games like Dante's Inferno and Dragon Age: Origins will play Dwalin, the first dwarf that arrives in Bag End. John Callen, who has appeared in two different series of Power Rangers, will play Oin, Stephen Hunter, from Australian medical drama All Saints, will play Bombur, Mark Hadlow, who featured in King Kong will play Dori, and Peter Hambleton, who appeared in TV show The Strip, will play Gloin, father of Gimli.

There are still five other dwarves to be announced, not to mention important characters like the shape-changer Beorn and Bard the Bowman, so expect to see at least one more announcement in the future. Filming on the project starts in February, with the first of the two movies hitting theaters in December 2012.

Source: I Watch Stuff [http://www.iwatchstuff.com/2010/10/martin_freeman_officially_bilb.php]


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Proverbial Jon

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Nov 10, 2009
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I'm sad that the rumour of Sylvester McCoy being Bilbo turned out to be false :(

However Martin Freeman is a good actor, I can come to accept this even though he wouldn't exactly have been my first choice.
 

Nouw

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Mar 18, 2009
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Saw the news and will be interesting. Now it's time to start speculating about where it's going to be made.
 

Romidude

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Aug 3, 2010
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YES! Martin Freeman is one of my favourite actors, and the only movie I've seen with him in it is The Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy.
 

Sniper Team 4

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Apr 28, 2010
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I'm excited about this movie. Very excited. I hope he doesn't go too far away from the book's storyline though. Return of the King was a bit too removed for my tastes.
 

ZoroNumbahNine

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Oct 11, 2010
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I want to know who Smaug will be, there are so many fantastic voices out there that would be great. For some reason Liam Neeson comes to min, but his voice isn't exactly that of a giant goddamned dragon.
 

Tiswas

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Jun 9, 2010
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so who is Mccoy playing? He debunked the rumour of him being Bilbo a while back but he did mention he was playing someone else 'just as important.'
 

Ne1butme

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Nov 16, 2009
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Proverbial Jon said:
I'm sad that the rumour of Sylvester McCoy being Bilbo turned out to be false :(
McCoy is too old. Maybe 20 years ago he would have done well, but if you're going to cast an older gentlemen, might as well bring Sir Ian Holm back.

My only regret about casting Martin Freeman is the impact upon Sherlock. I just watched the first season and completely loved it.
 

XMark

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Jan 25, 2010
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I was kind of hoping for Ewan McGregor as Bilbo, but Martin Freeman actually sounds like a great choice now that I think of it.
 

binvjoh

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Sep 27, 2010
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Awesome. Just looked up some pictures of the guy and I'm convinced he'll make a great Bilbo.
 

Proverbial Jon

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Nov 10, 2009
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ZoroNumbahNine said:
I want to know who Smaug will be, there are so many fantastic voices out there that would be great. For some reason Liam Neeson comes to min, but his voice isn't exactly that of a giant goddamned dragon.
How about John Hurt? He already plays a giant goddamed dragon in BBC's Merlin after all! :p

Ne1butme said:
Proverbial Jon said:
I'm sad that the rumour of Sylvester McCoy being Bilbo turned out to be false :(
McCoy is too old. Maybe 20 years ago he would have done well, but if you're going to cast an older gentlemen, might as well bring Sir Ian Holm back.

My only regret about casting Martin Freeman is the impact upon Sherlock. I just watched the first season and completely loved it.
True, I know he would be too old, I just liked him so much as the 7th Doctor that it'd be great to see him back in circulation, as it were!

Also: Sherlock really was awesome, I enjoyed Martin Freeman's performance as Watson. It would seem that he's good at the "long suffering companion" type of role.
 

Taawus

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Oct 21, 2008
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Logan Westbrook said:
As well as Bilbo, Jackson has cast eight of the thirteen dwarves that will venture off to Lonely Mountain to reclaim it from the dragon Smaug.
Smells like Dwarf Fortress in here :>