From TORN:

News is just hitting via Deadline.comthat Luke Evans has been cast as Bard in the upcoming The Hobbit movies:EXCLUSIVE TO DEADLINE.com: Luke Evans has bagged the role of Bard in The Hobbit, a last major part that Peter Jackson hadn’t cast in a production that’s underway in New Zealand. Bard the Grim is a skilled archer, and the heir of King Girion of Dale. The king was killed by the talking dragon Smaug. The character plays a greater role in the second film, and is somewhat reminiscent of the action-hero e xp loits of Viggo Mortensen’s Aragorn, I’m told.What do you think of the choice? Does he have the ‘Bard’ look? Sound off! For the complete article, including a summary of his past work, jump on over to Deadline.com! [Read on] (Thanks to Ringer Jared for the heads up!)

I'm breaking my self-imposed ban from this thread to post a bit of news even more anticipated than the one Olorin posted. In fact, I'm surprised he missed this since it made the headlines at the same time as the Bard casting.

Meanwhile it has also been confirmed that "Sherlock" star Benedict Cumberbatch is set to voice the dragon Smaug and will be giving a motion capture performance as part of the role. This is the second role he plays in the film, the other being the voice of the Necromancer - the spirit form of Sauron the Dark Lord.

[quote=""Valkrist""]I'm breaking my self-imposed ban from this thread to post a bit of news even more anticipated than the one Olorin posted. In fact, I'm surprised he missed this since it made the headlines at the same time as the Bard casting.[/quote]


ooooo I think he'll be great!!!!

I was in the grocery store an snatched up a DVD for $3 titled To the Ends of the Earth starring Benedict Cumberbatch. Never new of him until then. Very talented and impressive actor, excellent voice; strong with deep undertone.
I'm all for him doing those voices.

[quote=""Thranduil""]I was in the grocery store an snatched up a DVD for $3 titled To the Ends of the Earth starring Benedict Cumberbatch. Never new of him until then. Very talented and impressive actor, excellent voice; strong with deep undertone.
I'm all for him doing those voices. [/quote]

He is *very* excellent. He starred in BBC's Sherlock written by Stephen Moffat. It was a short miniseries but the episodes are like movie-length.

Uhhhhh..... motion capture?


For a dragon?


Dragonheart, here we come.

Well, it'll be interesting to say the least. The voice work should be epic though.

[quote=""Sedhal""]Uhhhhh..... motion capture?


For a dragon?


Dragonheart, here we come.[/quote]

With all your imagination Sed, you should be able to grasp what they plan for motion capture.
I didn't bat an eye at that statement.

In fact I immediately assumed they plan on having him act it out so the animator's can reference his reactions and movements and therefore don't have to invent everything.

I don't know of any trained Komodo dragons to use for reference.

[quote=""Valkrist""]I'm breaking my self-imposed ban from this thread to post a bit of news even more anticipated than the one Olorin posted. In fact, I'm surprised he missed this since it made the headlines at the same time as the Bard casting.[/quote]

I "missed" it because it was two separate posts on TORN. I didn't see the second one until just now.

I'm surprised you didn't comment on the fact that Sauron, er, the Necromancer, will have speaking lines, apparently.

Well, I'm trying not to get emotionally drawn into this movie again after all that Itaril crap, but ok, I'll take the bait:

I think it's refreshing to hear that Sauron will have lines because it gives me hope that PJ has rethought the whole "floating eyeball" thing and will bring him closer to Tolkien lore. However, it is also mentioned in that news bit that the Necromancer is the "spirit form of Sauron." Since in the books it says that Sauron took shape once again in Dol Guldur well before these events, I wonder how accurate this description is, or if the reporter was just getting carried away with innaccuracies, as usual.

Lastly, I'm not getting too excited about Sauron having lines because he had lines in LOTR too, remember? Frodo could hear his voice whenever he put on the Ring so it's tough to say where PJ is going with it this time. I just hope he doesn't have Bilbo hearing the same voice because that would completely change the tone of the story.

Even if PJ had decided he was wrong about the eyeball, I think he'd stick with it for consistency purposes.

PJ made an update to his facebook page... I will just copy and paste here:

Yikes! I can finally get back to some postings! We've finished our first block of shooting and moved straight into location scouting. More on that soon... But today, I'm thrilled to announce two new cast members who will be joining us for our second block of shooting.

Evangeline Lilly will be playing a new character—the Woodland Elf, Tauriel. Her name means 'daughter of Mirkwood' and, beyond that, we must leave you guessing! (No, there is no romantic connection to Legolas.) What is not a secret is how talented and compelling an actress Evangeline is; we are thrilled and excited she will be the one to bring our first true Sylvan Elf to life.

I'm also highly excited that Barry Humphries will be portraying the Goblin King, in much the way Andy Serkis created Gollum. Barry is perhaps best known for his business and social connections as the long-time manager of Dame Edna Everage. He has also been an ardent supporter of the rather misunderstood and unfairly maligned Australian politician, Sir Les Patterson. However, in his spare time, Barry is also a fine actor, and we're looking forward to seeing him invest the Goblin King with the delicate sensitivity and emotional depth this character deserves.

Evangeline and Barry, along with Welsh actor Luke Evans as Bard and Benedict Cumberbatch as Smaug, just about rounds out the major casting. I cannot wait to get stuck into these new scenes!

More soon, including a flurry of answers to your questions. Sorry for the delay!

Cheers,
Peter J

Perhaps "Tauriel" is "Itaril" revamped.

Well, given that he specifically said there's no romantic connection legolas, I doubt that she is Itrail: reprise. Glad to hear from PJ again though and I can't wait for this to get rolling again.

I googled Tauriel and it seemed that she was in some FanFic a few years back, I didn't get too much into it, but I saw some posts with that name in relation to the Hobbit and someone even had that name as a user name.

I just noticed Evangeline Lilly's picture. She looks quite a bit like Liv Tyler.

she is very pretty indeed. I wonder how her character will fit into the story though?

Barry Humphries as the Goblin King - that's going to be interesting. I'm a huge fan of Mr. Humphries.

(Or could that be a joke by Sir Peter? )

Hey, Tim Curry (probably best known prior for Rocky Horror) pulled off the Lord Darkness.

[quote=""MorgulMike""]Barry Humphries as the Goblin King - that's going to be interesting. I'm a huge fan of Mr. Humphries.

(Or could that be a joke by Sir Peter? )[/quote]

I don't think it's a joke, he mentioned it will be a CGI performance like Andy Serkis' Gollum.

He also made a point to emphasize that this female elf will not have a romantic involvement with Legolas.
I think Sir PJ thoroughly listened to us and others scream bloody murder on the Itaril issue.
Good for him to care what we think

My faith is slowly being restored that this will be worthy of the LOTR e xp erience.

[quote=""Curunir""]Hey, Tim Curry (probably best known prior for Rocky Horror) pulled off the Lord Darkness.[/quote]

Or, as a friend of mine puts it...

Best.

Devil.

Ever.

I agree with your friend.

What movie is this Lord of Darkness in, now? Sounds like something I have to see.

Legend, which was Ridley Scott's next movie after Blade Runner. It came out about 1984. It was visually stunning, but overall, it was so-so. I think the longer cut is definitely better than the 90 minute US theatrical cut.

It stars Tom Cruise as the hero, Mia Sara as the damsel in distress, Tim Curry as a very devil-like Dark Lord, and if your ear is very good (and you know what part he plays) you can catch Robert Picardo, the doctor from Star Trek: Voyager, as the swamp creature.

That was a classic devil look by Tim Curry, the image of the devil I have in my mind for the most part... not like the other devil characters, although cool, like Peter Stormare and Viggo Mortensen played

OK, what movies did Stormare and Mortensen play devils in?

Stormare was in Constantine (2005) and Mortensen in The Prophecy (1995)... they portrayed the "well dressed" devil character with impeccable tastes in clothes and a nice pressed suit.

I agree that Curry's visual devil was the best, but the devil's actually much closer to Tolkien's presentation of Sauron who shows up as Annatar and plays the same game.
DeNiro's devil wasn't too bad in Angel Heart, but more a kin to Constantine & The Prophecy.

[quote=""Thranduil""]but more a kin to Constantine & The Prophecy.[/quote]

Viggo's Satan was certainly disturbing

[quote=""Curunir""]Viggo's Satan was certainly disturbing [/quote]
That's a flic I never watched, I'll have to check it out. I can see Viggo doing a disturbing devil.
Kinda like Sed being himself, lol!

I'll take that as a compliment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMmcCBEyEj0

I'm curious which swords can we e xp ect for eventually being made by UC?
Shame on me, I've never read the Hobbit so I'm not familiar with the characters and weapons..

[quote=""Nazgûl""]I'm curious which swords can we e xp ect for eventually being made by UC?
Shame on me, I've never read the Hobbit so I'm not familiar with the characters and weapons..[/quote]
UC would have to renew their license to be the maker; that remains questionable.
Obviously Sting would be one sword to be reintroduced.
Orcrist is Gamdring's sister sword (or brother) and is certainly the most anticipated.
(Sting, Glamdring, and Orcrist are all found at the same time in the goblin horde of treasure)

I don't recall many weapons from the Hobbit, and due to the fact the majority of the cast are dwarves, I can't imagine a huge line of axes. We'll have to wait and see, but I'm leaning toward the thought we will not be seeing much of weapons in the replica end of this film.

Whoever is considering getting licensing has the benefit of examining sales figures from LOTR to make their decision in advance. With Guthwine never reaching full production, again I doubt swords are going to be a big comeback. But ya never know.

[quote=""Sedhal""]I'll take that as a compliment. [/quote]
Nah, sarcastic poke in the ribs

No talk about the pictures of Bilbo and the Dwarves!?

http://www.theonering.net/

Here's some talk...they look great! I must say I like the picture of Gandalf better than the picture of Bilbo and the Dwarves. The Dwarves look almost photoshopped into the picture. Martin Freeman looks mighty young there too, IMHO. Oh well.

Sed: Viggo played a great satan in that clip!

Nazgul: We can e xp ect to see some elven weaponry, probably an elven short sword of some sort and maybe Bard's sword. We might even get some good goblin weaponry!

And those pictures are looking awesome, I love seeing Gandalf again!

Empire Magazine has The Hobbit on its cover:

http://www.empireonline.com/gallery/ima ... llery=3268

http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=31328

I just read the empire article and I found myself incredibly excited for this! hehehe can't wait for it to be released! hope we see more articles about the film soon

TORn quotes a NYMag interview with Elijah Wood that implies that Sir Christopher Lee's parts are going to be shot at home in the UK this fall. It would certainly make sense, as it's what we were all advocating when Lee was saying he couldn't participate because New Zealand was too far to travel at his age.

NYMag.com has a new interview up with Elijah Wood who’ll be reprising his role as Frodo in The Hobbit, and perhaps the most interesting bit is his response to the question about when he’ll be going down to New Zealand to shoot his scenes.Here’s what Elijah said:October. I’m going to the U.K. first to do some shooting, but then I’m going down in October for the New Zealand part.Not to jump to any conclusions, but does this potentially mean Sir Christopher Lee will be shooting his scenes in the UK this October? Discuss over at our message boards.

The entire interview can be found over at NYMag.com.

That's good news. I think that the extra effort to get Sir Christopher in The Hobbit will be worth it. Even in his great age, his acting has lost none of its intensity.

Sounds like more than just one set of scenes will be shot in the UK, because I can't think of any scene that would involve Frodo and Saruman to appear together, therefore they must be doing more stuff over in England. In fact, if Frodo is only appearing to bookend the movies, wouldn't he be doing so in Bag End or Rivendell, both of which are locations in NZ? I don't get it.

Maybe they need Frodo with the Ring in front of Lee to get him in the proper frame of mind to do Saruman again.....

[quote=""Olorin""]Maybe they need Frodo with the Ring in front of Lee to get him in the proper frame of mind to do Saruman again..... [/quote]




I'm looking forward to seeing Saruman again

Are they going to do some major makeup/CGI-ing to Christopher Lee... last time I saw him, with all due respect, he looked very decrepit, it is, what, roughly 12 years since they filmed LOTR and he is supposed to be 80 years younger, although he is a Wizard, I doubt he would look much younger, but he shouldn't look three days away from the coffin

I'm guessing they will do something along those lines. Gandalf looks younger in the stills I've seen. His hair is a tad darker and his face is not quite as lined. I think Saruman will necessarily have the same treatment.

Here's a two bits of interest from the Empire article on the Hobbit:

- "I'm exactly the same filmmaker as I was ten yearsa go," he concludes, pausing over a depiction of Sauron in battle armour, the Ring aglow on his finger. -

- The week following Empires visit, the directors will shoot Gandalf and Elrond scouting the murky dungeons of forest fastness Dol Guldur (by early designs, a ruin of stone slipping back into the rancid grasp of Mirkwood). Such obscure narrative threads serving as vital connective tissue to the more apocalyptic events of Rings, creating a five-film saga. Put pithily by Jackson: "Sauron, in the disguise of The Necromancer, was gaining strength in Dol Guldur, and Gandalf goes there to check it out." -

Elrond is going to Dol Guldur also? I suppose none of Tolkien's writings ever said that Elrond didn't go. All we know for sure is that Gandalf did go.

I'm all for Hugo getting more screen time!

What they most likely left out is that trailing behind Elrond are 200 warriors from Lothlorien, with Haldir and Arwen at the front of the column.