Thursday 29 May 2008

James McAvoy to star in the Hobbit?


I rarely post on Thursdays, but I just have to post this. Awards Daily pointed to this piece of news from ONTD!:

Scottish actor James McAvoy has been tipped to take the lead role in the new movie version of Lord Of The Rings prequel The Hobbit.

J.R.R. Tolkien's novel is set to be turned into a major blockbuster under the direction of Guillermo del Toro and filming is due to begin in New Zealand later this year.

Sir Ian McKellen will reprise his role as Gandalf and McAvoy is rumoured to be the favourite to take the lead role of hobbit Bilbo Baggins.

The character was played by Ian Holm in the previous films of the fantasy franchise, but he is due to be replaced by a high profile star for the new movie.

A source tells British newspaper the Daily Express, "A number of names have been doing the rounds, including Daniel Radcliffe and Jack Black, but James (McAvoy) is the one the film's bosses really want. They're expected to have talks soon so hopefully it could be confirmed in the not too distant future."

And director del Toro adds, "I can tell you it's down to a few names that we all agree upon. For our first choice, completely magically we all have the same name."
Quite a few McAvoy fans have thrown his name around for the role of Bilbo long before del Toro was even hired. I can't tell if this will help or hurt his career - could people only see him as a faun from the Narnia universe and not as a hobbit in Middle Earth? Will he only be remembered as Bilbo regardless of what he does after? Or will it just make him even more famous and respected like most of his recent films have done?

Source: Awards Daily, ONTD!
Photo from New Chatter

4 comments:

  1. Oi I find it sort of funny that the person/people from that site are mentioning my post. And a little flattering, I guess..

    And I keep going back and forth on this Hobbit issue.. hopefully we'll hear a confirmation soon.

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  2. Hi - Hope you'll remember me - :-)

    Been out of the 'on line' life for awhile - now anxious to catch up on my favorite Blog to read !

    First thing back I see GREAT news - I'd ADORE JM as Bilbo! He's perfect - the half-way point between Billy Boyd adorable, and Gerry Butler sexy! And Bilbo has to be both 'Hobbit-cute' and 'Adven
    ture-tough' !

    PS - Did everyone else swoon for him in Penelope ? :-)

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  3. To youbecomeme: Awards Daily often gets news from ONTD. It's actually the reason I know about ONTD. It's a really cool blog to visit if you're an Oscar junkie.

    To Octavia: Of course I remember you! I'm glad you're back - it's been a while.

    I don't know how James does it, he looks hot even when he's an imaginary creature. I haven't seen Penelope yet because I have to wait for the DVD - I bet he was perfect in it as usual.

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  4. Imaginary? To us "LOTR-nuts", 'Hobbits' are quite real! :-) But, I know what you mean.... and furry feet will be much nicer than goat feet! :-)

    Oh - Penelope was Heaven for James-drooling - and was such a fun movie too! Now, counting the days until WANTED!

    ReplyDelete

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