The Hobbit Main Cast announced

Palantir

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The main cast has been announced with Martin Freeman (as expected) playing Bilbo.

Deadline: Peter Jackson Sets First Names For ‘The Hobbit’
October 21st, 2010

By Mike Fleming at Deadline.com:
BREAKING: While Peter Jackson and Warner Bros are figuring out where they’ll shoot back-to-back installments of The Hobbit, Jackson has begun to set his cast for the ambitious projects that will begin shooting in February for release in December 2012, and 2013. As Deadline told you last week, Martin Freeman is set to play Bilbo Baggins, the adventurous Hobbit whose adventures and discovery of the One Ring leads the story up to The Lord of the Rings. Freeman has appeared in films ranging from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Hot Fuzz to Love Actually.

Jackson has cast several other significant Dwarf characters.

Richard Armitage (MI-5 and Captain America: The First Avenger) will play Thorin Oakenshield, leader of the Company of Dwarves which sets off to reclaim the Lonely Mountain from a thieving dragon. Aidan Turner (Being Human) and Rob Kazinsky (EastEnders) will play Kili and Fili, members of the Company of Dwarves. Graham McTavish (Secretariat) will play Dwalin, John Callen (Power Rangers Jungle Fury) will play Oin; Stephen Hunter (All Saints) will play Bombur, and Mark Hadlow (King Kong) plays Dori, while Peter Hambleton (The Strip) will play Gloin.


http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2010/10/21/39458-deadline-peter-jackson-sets-first-names-for-the-hobbit/#more-39458

Of course Ian McKellan and Andy Serkis are expected to reprise Gandalf and Gollum. Aiden Turner is in contention for the Elf King.

More to come soon.
I guess Freeman was able to get time off from his Sherlock Holmes gig after all...
 

Palantir

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Add to that list a cameo by Legolas!

Deadline.com: Orlando to reprise Legolas in ‘Hobbit’
December 8th, 2010 by Calisuri | Source: Deadline | Discuss | View Comments

Deadline.com is reporting that Orlando Bloom is expected to reprise his role as Legolas Greenleaf in the upcoming ‘Hobbit’ films. You may ask, how can this be? Well, quite simply, the character of Legolas was very much alive during the timeframe of The Hobbit. In fact, he was probably several thousand years old at the time of The Lord of the Rings! Since Legolas is the son of Thranduil (The Elvenking), a major player in ‘The Hobbit,’ one can easily see Peter, Phillipa, and Fran writing him into the script. *MINOR SPOILERS* Not only would he appear in Mirkwood with the other wood-elves, he could very well lead the wood-elf contingent into the Battle of Five Armies! Deadline also mentions the negotiations for Ian McKellen, Hugo Weaving and Andy Serkis are still ongoing.



Ok, I can see it as long as it's a minor roll.
It's not much of a stretch to envision the King of the Elves having his son with him in court or at his side in a major battle. It might be a nice tie-in with the trilogy.

Now, how they are going to write Galadriel into the story (Cate Blanchett) is another matter. Since she's Elrond's Mother-in-law and Arwens Grandmother she could be at Rivendell visiting when the troop stumbles in to rest but besides a brief view how much more involved can they make her?



Cast Name / Character:

Adam Brown » Ori

Aidan Turner » Kili

Cate Blanchett » Galadriel

Graham McTavish » Dwalin

James Nesbitt » Bofur

Jed Brophy » Nori

John Callen » Oin

Ken Stott » Balin

Mark Hadlow » Dori

Martin Freeman » Bilbo Baggins

Mikael Persbrandt » Beorn

Orlando Bloom » Legolas Greenleaf

Peter Hambleton » Glóin

Richard Armitage » Thorin Oakenshield

Rob Kazinsky » Fili

Ryan Gage » Drogo Baggins

Stephen Hunter » Bombur

Sylvester McCoy » Radagast

William Kircher » Bifur

Recent additions info:

Cate Blanchett (“Lord of The Rings” trilogy, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”) will reprise her role from “Lord of The Rings” trilogy as Galadriel, the Lady of Lothlorien.
Ken Stott (“Charlie Wilson’s War”, TV’s “Rebus”) will play the Dwarf Lord Balin.
Sylvester McCoy (TV’s “Doctor Who”) will play the wizard Radagast the Brown.
Swedish actor, Mikael Persbrandt (“Everlasting Moments”, “Day and Night”) will play the shape-shifter Beorn.
British actor Ryan Gage (“Outlaw”, TV’s “Doctors”) will play Drogo Baggins.
New Zealand actors Jed Brophy (“Lord of The Rings” trilogy, “District 9”) playing the role of the dwarf Nori, and William Kircher (“Out of the Blue”; TV’s “Legend of the Seeker”) rounding out the company of Thorin Oakensheild in role of the dwarf Bifur.
 

Michael Dorosh

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http://blog.movies.yahoo.com/blog/256-the-hobbit-is-making-room-for-some-lord-of-the-rings-characters

"Lord of the Rings" director Peter Jackson's long-awaited film(s) of "The Hobbit" -- it'll be broken up into two movies -- will finally start shooting in February, which means he needs to nail down his cast for this adaptation of the J.R.R. Tolkien book that preceded "Rings." And this week it was announced that two big stars from the "Rings" trilogy were set to reprise their elven roles in "The Hobbit": Cate Blanchett and Orlando Bloom. That seemed like good news, but then we realized something: Their characters aren't even in Tolkien's book. So why are they going to be in the movie?

The Hollywood Reporter revealed on Tuesday that Blanchett would once again be Galadriel; then a day later Deadline reported that Bloom is close to a deal to return to play Legolas. What neither story discussed is that Jackson is apparently writing the characters into the story of "The Hobbit": Galadriel is mentioned in other Tolkien works but doesn't appear in "The Hobbit," and as for Legolas, he first shows up in "The Fellowship of the Ring." And according to Deadline's story about the Bloom casting news, Legolas will be more than a walk-on role. Likewise, considering how gushing Jackson was in announcing Blanchett's involvement, calling her "one of my favorite actors to work with," it seems like she might be doing more than a cameo as well.

Cast photos: See the new 'Hobbit' faces >>

We confess to never having read any Tolkien, but our friends who did were all pretty pleased with Jackson's reverent "Lord of the Rings" adaptations. He's clearly not going that way with his two-part "Hobbit" film, however, which will be shooting back-to-back and is expected to be released in installments in December 2012 and December 2013. Why the change of heart? It's hard to say. As The Guardian points out, Jackson did flesh out several of Tolkien's minor female characters for the "Rings" trilogy. And besides, he might understandably feel that he's built up enough good will with the Tolkien faithful to make a few "Hobbit" alterations.

'The Hobbit' loses its director >>

But while Jackson retools "The Hobbit," Deadline's story brings up another intriguing development, which is that negotiations to bring back actors Ian McKellen (who played Gandalf) and Andy Serkis (Gollum) -- who actually are in the original book -- "have been arduous and aren't completed yet." Considering that "The Hobbit" will star Martin Freeman (one of the stars of the original, British "The Office," who's hardly a household name) as Bilbo Baggins, Jackson is probably happy to let fans know that at least some of the actors they loved from the "Rings" trilogy will be putting in an appearance. It could backfire, though, if those same fans scream heresy because he's daring to tamper with Tolkien's story.

'Hobbit' employee fired after racist casting >>
 
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