Middle-earth Journeys

Martin Freeman is a class act - I'm thrilled! plus he does "bewildered" very well . . . here's a link to the Beeb's take on this.

I do hope that Hugo Weaving will be returning as Elrond. It will be decidedly odd if they use someone else in this role, especially since The Hobbit is intended to be viewed as more or less continuous with LOTR.

Merry, I am also hoping that they will be casting all 13 of the dwarves. The whole point of bringing Bilbo into the quest was to solve the problem of the "unlucky number." That bit of business comes up just often enough in the Professor's tale that it would be an enormous shame to lose it. I suspect we will hear about the casting of Balin, Ori, Nori, Bifur, and Bofur at a later date.

Well, I didnt' get my wish for the casting of Thorin (I'd hoped for Alan Rickman), but MARTIN FREEMAN as Bilbo will be genius!!!! I'm very, very, very, VERY happy about that!

Continuing to cross my fingers that Ron Perlman will be cast as Beorn. I know GdT had indicated he was thinking of Ron for the voice of Smaug -- and he'd be GREAT for that -- but I think he'd be even better casting for Beorn. My choice for the voice of Smaug is Jeremy Irons.

And marbretherese, I do agree with you -- those are some mighty handsome looking dwarves!!!

Thanks for the link, marbretherese. The faces of these actors have such character! I'm starting to get excited about this movie, finally!

I think all this business about whether it will be made in NZ is just a lot of posturing for each side to gain advantages.

I'm watching the first of the PBS's new Sherlock Holmes (in a modern setting) and Martin Freeman is Watson. He's perfect! I can see Bilbo even in this setting.

This Sherlock is kind of campy, but it's fun!

I watched it as well, Merry, and even though I was already completely sold on Martin Freeman as Bilbo based on his performances in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Love Actually, and The Office (the original British version), his performance as Watson just rang completely true to form for Bilbo. I could easily see Sir Ian Holm turning in a similar performance, and there were so many times that I saw similar mannerisms, facial expressions, etc., to Sir Ian's Bilbo. Martin Freeman is going to be a FABULOUS Bilbo!

And I did really enjoy Sherlock, enough so that I've DVR'd the entire season! The actor playing Sherlock has adopted some of Jeremy Brett's mannerisms/habits for Holmes (especially the hands and the brisk, abrupt bird-like walk), and I thoroughly enjoyed the "updating" of the character to the 21st century. Should be a fun series!

I, too, am happy with the casting of Martin Freeman as Bilbo. I really wasn't aware of him but I did see him on Sherlock and was immediately sold!

I thought the up-date was wonderful as well, and the portrayal of Watson as more of a friend than foil was particularly welcome. Although he is impressed by Holmes' abilities, he's obviously still his own man.

Looks like New Zealand will once again serve as Middle-Earth. Welcome news to all Kiwis I'm sure.

Still curious as to how they're going to get two books out of such a slim volume ..... bridge perhaps??? Some of our favourite characters returning....maybe???

I am hearing that there will definitely be no bridge to LOTR. The two movies will concentrate on the story of The Hobbit. I do also think there is enough material there for two movies to be sure. It would also be just like PJ to tantalize us with a glimpse of Smaug at the end of the first movie and save all the mayhem and the big battle (PJ is good at those battles ) for the second.

I think I read at TOR.n or somewhere that they cast somebody as Radagast the Brown, but I can't remember him in The Hobbit. It'll be interesting to see how they put this together.

I read the first chapter this week to check out my memory of things, and I began to get excited about the singing at the Unexpected Party. Has there been any word if Shore is on board yet?

Yes ... Shore is on board.

Yeah, Howard Shore is doing the score! That is good news. One of my favourite things in LOTR is the score and watching how it was created on the EE.

*does happy dance*

Yeah, indeed! Please, please, please don't leave out the dwarves' singing in the first chapter!

Speaking of singing, I love your sig quote, shieldmaiden.

More: I just read at TOR.n that they are building the Hobbiton set in NZ to be permanent, real stone and timber and not the polystyrene or whatever it is they usually use, so that it can be a tourist attraction for many, many years. Maybe we'll get there some day!

I'm delighted that the situation in NZ has been resolved. What a great idea to build a permanent set as a tourist attraction! they must have been kicking themselves that they didn't capitalize in this way on the LOTR films . . .

I wish so badly that they had been able to leave the Rivendell and Lothlorien sets in place for tourist purposes, although perhaps they weren't nearly as realistic as the Shire. I hope I can visit the Shire someday!

I've always wanted to do the Middle-earth Tours thing, with (of course) a complete and proper hobbiton and Bag-End to visit. There should also, of course, be a permanent exhibition of all the wonderful things that were made for the films. I can't remember now why the studio (which I think owns it all) wouldn't go with that. What a waste of all that exquisite work.

There is an interesting set of issues being reported on the 'net about PJ using racial profiling in casting for the hobbit movie. I can see both sides of this one. Can there be a dark-skinned hobbit? What do you think?