Christopher Lee Will Return for ‘The Hobbit,’ plus More David Tennant Rumors

Hot on the heels of the news that Elijah Wood, Andy Serkis, and Ian McKellen will reunite with director Peter Jackson for The Hobbit, we have some more casting information from Middle Earth.

According to Sir Christopher Lee’s official website, the 88-year-old actor will appear in The Hobbit to reprise his role as the wizard Saruman, as long as “he is in good health.” We haven’t heard that Lee is experiencing any particular health issues (and we certainly hope that continues to be the case) so this sounds like strong confirmation.

It’s been a long time since I’ve read The Hobbit, but I don’t recall Saruman being featured in the book. Nevertheless, when you have a thespian like Lee onboard, your movie is going to be markedly improved, so I’m all for it. After all, Jackson and company changed around many of the plot details for each Lord of the Rings film, and they are modern classics.

In addition to Christopher Lee’s likely return, there are also fresh rumors that former Doctor Who star David Tennant will join the cast of The Hobbit. In the past, Tennant was rumored to be up for a number of parts in The Hobbit, including the main role of Bilbo Baggins back in 2009, before Martin Freeman was cast in the film.

Now, according to an unsubstantiated rumor at MovieWeb, Tennant has allegedly joined the cast of The Hobbit as the Elf King Thranduil. Thranduil, for those not up on their Tolkien mythology, is also the father of Legolas (played by Orlando Bloom in Lord of the Rings). MovieWeb doesn’t say where it got the information about Tennant’s involvement in the film, but if Thranduil were in the film, it would make sense since Bloom was confirmed to be reprising his role as Legolas in December.

As The Hobbit continues to take shape, the project is beginning to sound more and more epic. I may just have to watch Lord of the Rings back-to-back-to-back to stave off my excitement.

The Hobbit: Part 1 hits theaters on December 19th, 2012. Part 2 comes out in December 2013.

Source: MovieWeb and Christopher Lee’s Website (via The One Ring)

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Orlando Bloom’s Legolas Returning For ‘The Hobbit’

Peter Jackson’s two-part adaptation of The Hobbit is finally on the right track, having received the long-awaited official greenlight back in October and two weeks later being confirmed to have its production remain where it belongs in New Zealand.

Since then, the news reports having been rolling in with The Hobbit updates and a plethora of casting announcements, including Cate Blanchett returning to the franchise as Galadriel. Now, believe it or not, we can also add Legolas to the list of characters not a part of The Hobbit novel who will play important roles in The Hobbit films.

Deadline has the exclusive which details that Orlando Bloom, who kick-started his career as the fan-favorite Orc-killing archer in Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, is close to signing a deal with New Line to play Legolas yet again. Not only will he be making an appearance, but his role is described as being “more than a cameo” as Deadline explains.

Back in the day, the plan for The Hobbit was to make it a standalone movie with a follow-up film acting as a “bridge” between it and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. This would’ve allowed for many of the characters we all know and love from the series to return. We even heard from actors including Viggo Mortensen and Dominic Monaghan that they’d love to come back and that they had heard rumblings about the possibility. Keep in mind, this was back when the plan was to have The Hobbit come out next month with the bridge film out in 2011. Things have changed a lot since then.

With Galadriel and Legolas returning to play alongside Martin Freeman’s Bilbo Baggins, this indicates that the screenplays are deviating from the novel in significant ways to help it connect with the Lord of the Rings films, still essentially acting as that  ”bridge,” we had heard about long ago. If it works for the story, I’m all for it and it should generate a lot of excitement and familiarity for casual moviegoers.

This does make me wonder though if the script had always been written for these two elves to return. What if Bloom didn’t choose to come back? Would they recast? Are other characters like Aragorn in the running to return as well?

While Legolas would mark another returnee, key character actors Ian McKellen, Hugo Weaving and Andy Serkis have yet to sign to reprise their roles of Gandalf, Lord Elrond and Gollum respectively. Expect more casting announcement soon, and maybe, some more surprises!

Share your thoughts in the comments and with us on Twitter @rob_keyes and @screenrant.

Part 1 of The Hobbit opens in theaters on December 19, 2012, with part 2 arriving the following December.

Source: Deadline

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‘The Hobbit’ Production Update: Cutting-Edge 3D, CGI Dragons & More

Charged with the task of realizing mystical beasts and creatures from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit on the big screen, Peter Jackson must be quite relieved that he can now concentrate on actually making the film adaptation – rather than having to wade through yet another series of production delays.

Production on The Hobbit is moving forward at last (we promise!), with Jackson officially in the director’s chair for the new cinematic venture through Middle-Earth, which will be shot in New Zealand once again and feature the return of several Lord of the Rings alumni, including composer Howard Shore.

Jackson will shoot both Hobbit movies in 3D using no less than 30 RED EPIC digital cameras, each of which – according to the RED Studios press release – “has 5K resolution, can shoot up to 120 frames per second and has a new HDRx™ mode for the highest dynamic range of any digital cinema camera ever made… The EPIC’s small size and relatively low weight makes it perfect for 3D – where two cameras have to be mounted on each 3D rig.”

For those less familiar with filmmaking jargon, the short of it is this: Jackson is using cutting-edge technology that will both allow him to avoid some of the burdens that come with shooting in 3D and assure that The Hobbit is as visually impressive (if not more so) than Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy – and that is saying something.

Still frame from 'Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King'.

The Hobbit‘s narrative is far less sprawling than that of Lord of the Rings, which is also much more grandiose in scope and tone. The former still has its share of fantastical locales in Middle-Earth that were left unexplored in LOTR, and will feature plenty of stunning visuals and CGI monsters – especially that of the treasure-hoarding dragon Smaug, who plays a pivotal role in the quest undertaken by a young Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman). Devoted LOTR fans may even recall that Bilbo’s expedition was (albeit briefly) referenced in the first exchange between Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Gandalf the Grey (Sir Ian McKellen) in the film version of Fellowship of the Ring.

Speaking of McKellen’s shaggy old wizard character, the actor has not yet been officially confirmed as returning for The Hobbit movies. McKellen’s official site indicates that he is very much onboard to return as Gandalf – which is excellent news since, frankly, it’s difficult to envision anyone else embodying the 2,000 (or so) year-old wizard with as much charm and charisma as McKellen did.

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Howard Shore Returning To Score ‘The Hobbit’

Now that The Hobbit has clawed its way out of that MGM mess and has been given the all-important green light, us fans are free to properly look forward to what Peter Jackson has in store for us with the much-anticipated adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s beloved novel.

For a while now we’ve been hearing word of the different cast members being brought onboard for the The Hobbit, including Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins, Richard Armitage as the leader of the Company of Dwarves and James Nesbitt as the dwarf Bofur (amongst many other casting additions). Now we have just have to wait for confirmation of those long-standing rumors that Ian McKellen and Andy Serkis will be reprising their roles as Gandalf and Gollum, respectively.

Fans now have one more reason to jump for joy in anticipation of The Hobbit, as it appears that Lord of the Rings composer, Howard Shore, will be returning to compose the musical score for Jackson’s two-part Hobbit epic. The Province spoke to Shore himself:

“We’ve [Shore and Jackson] talked about making these movies [The Hobbit] for many years, at least since 2002… It looks like finally it’s going to be happening. I’ll be working on it for the next three years — it’s going to consume a lot of my time and work now.”

Shore’s score for the LOTR trilogy – which he originally recorded 11 hours of music for – has taken on a life of its own outside of the confines of the films, having been performed over 160 times since 2003. The latest performance will be next week by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. Shore regards the music as his best work and says that, “everything I knew about composing, orchestrating, conducting — everything I had learned about music was in it.”

The Lord of the Rings score being conducted

Does anyone really think that Shore won’t do just as stellar of a job with The Hobbit as he did with LOTR? I certainly don’t. His score for the latter somehow managed to be monumentally epic but still feel rather intimate, which perfectly mirrored the journey Frodo and Sam took to destroy the One Ring To Rule Them All.

Fans of The Hobbit novel will know that it has similar attributes to the journey taken in the LOTR but nonetheless falls a lot more on the intimate side of the fence. I have every bit of faith that Shore will help Jackson do justice to the source material.

Both parts of The Hobbit are being shot back-to-back in New Zealand, starting early next year. Part 1 is currently scheduled to hit theaters on December 19th, 2012, while Part 2 will follow a year later in December, 2013.

Source: The Province via Coming Soon

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