Finally a chunk of news. MTV cornered Peter Jackson and he answered the question that has been on everyone's minds. Which LOTR characters will return and have a role in 'The Hobbit'? This from MTV:
"Gandalf, being a 2,000-year-old wizard, is still around and plays a major role in 'The Hobbit,' and we're having Ian McKellen reprise," explained the filmmaker, who is executive-producing the flick and writing the screenplay. "There's a couple of other characters: Elrond, who was played by Hugo Weaving [in the original films], and there's a possibility of Galadriel, who was played by Cate Blanchett."
Sweetness! No Legolas or Aragorn which is fine. It would have been cool to see them in the back ground but not necessary. Peter goes on to explain:
"In some respects, it's a prequel," Jackson said of the flick, which he plans to begin filming in mid-2010. "In book terms, the world of 'The Hobbit' takes place 60 years before 'The Lord of the Rings,' as it was written by Tolkien. So, not a lot of the characters actually feature, because they weren't around yet."
Rejoice I say to you. A filmmaker who actually is sticking to the source material! SHOCK! But a pleaseant shock.
Peter offered a rundown of what the currant state of affairs is on 'The Hobbit':
"Guillermo Del Toro is the director of 'The Hobbit' — we're producing it for him — and I'm involved in the scriptwriting, which I love," he explained. "Screenwriting is my favorite part of the whole process. I'm very happy being one of the writing team on 'The Hobbit,' and we've written the first script. It's two movies, and we've written the first script, which the studio responded well to. And we're now halfway through the second script."
"At this rate," he said, "we're on target to begin shooting the first half of next year."
Say it again!! WHAT!! OK!! YEAYAH!!
Does Peter anticipate any casting problems with the three who will return?
"They are elves, so once again, in the realm of Middle-earth, they're immortal, they don't age," he said of Galadriel and Elrond, the only returning "LOTR" main roles besides Gandalf in his script. "We have a process that would start with showing them the script. We're not [beginning] any official process until we have the 'official' script that they can read."
That would be a big NO. Off course they will return, why in hell wouldn't they. These roles are their most popular by far. I can't wait to see more Gollum. Bring it on!!!
