Stephen Fry Joins The Cast Of The Hobbit

I think everyone will be happy with this announcement. Fry should be in every movie ever made! Anyway, here is the full spiel from Jackson, revealing not only Fry's casting but that of two other characters, one of whom will be a very large Orc..

Some more Hobbit casting news today. As we near the end of our first shooting block (we have a break in less than three weeks to get some editing and visual effects work done, plus prepare for very big scenes coming up), we are looking at characters featuring in sequences that take place a little later in the story.

We are thrilled to confirm that Stephen Fry will be playing The Master of Laketown. I've known Stephen for several years, and we're developing a Dambusters movie together. In addition to his writing skills, he's a terrific actor and will create a very memorable "Master" for us.

The Master's conniving civil servant, Alfrid will be played by Ryan Gage. Ryan is a great young actor who we originally cast in a small hobbit role, but we liked him so much, we promoted him to the much larger Alfrid part.

I only joined Bret's fan-base, when he joined up with Jermaine Clement in their hilarious tv series Flight of the Conchords. Now he is briefly back in Rivendell as a senior official at Elrond's Court and he has a name "Lindir", which means "singer". Tolkien has plenty of songs in The Hobbit but the script doesn't indicate that Lindir will be singing any of them. If, as he promises, Bret makes a Conchord feature film ere long, I shall angle for a non-speaking part as BIGWIT. ("Bret Is..." etc.)

Last, and certainly not least, is Conan Stevens, who will be playing an Orc called Azog (orcs are never called Roger or Dennis for some strange reason). And yes that's his name - Conan! Isn't that cool? Azog is played by Conan! Here's a photo of Conan and I together ... I'm pretty tall ... probably at least 6'5" or 6'6" I would guess, so that gives you some clue how tall Conan is! You can learn all about him at www.conanstevens.com.

Got a busy day's shooting ahead, so I'm about to jump in the car - but look out for the beginning of the 20 questions answers very soon. Thanks for the questions - many are very insightful. I've been through all of them and have a list ready to go.

Cheers, Peter J