dream cast: Peter Jackson’s ‘The Hobbit’ (to give him a boot in the ass)
It’s Thursday, so it’s time for another installment in the semiregular Dream Cast, in which we take a classic movie, TV show, or -- NEW! -- book, perferrably something with Xer appeal that we can either trash or have fun with, and cast a production or recast a hypothetical (or sometimes not so hypothetical) remake with actors working today. This week: The Hobbit, the Peter Jackson-produced, Guillermo del Toro-directed prequel to Jackson’s Lord of the Rings film series, which we just learned yesterday doesn’t actually have a finished script yet, and hasn’t actually been greenlit!
(If you have a suggestion for show, movie, or book we could play Dream Cast with, feel free to email me.)
Oh, it’s true, as MTV Movie News reported yesterday:
'The Hobbit' Not Yet Green-Lit, Peter Jackson Says'Unless we can write a script that the studio likes and present a budget that they like, there won't be any 'Hobbit' film being made,' producer says.
And so there cannot yet be a casting decision made on the role of Bilbo Baggins, of course:
"You never go offering a role to an actor until you have a script that they can read, and you also need a schedule so you can tell what dates you need them to work," said Jackson...
Also, at Comic Con, David Tennant completely denied he knew anything at all about his playing Bilbo Baggins in any movie:
"The Internet is a curious place, isn't it?" Tennant told MTV News."I think someone sits in their bedroom in Saskatchewan and comes up with an idea and they post it. And within minutes it's around the world and I'm getting phoned up by journalists and friends of mine saying, 'When are you off to shoot with Guillermo [del Toro]?'" said Tennant. "It's not something I know anything about."
"No one's talked with me," he added.
While Tennant's no stranger to special effects, he doubted even the most impressive computer's ability to bring him down to Hobbit size.
"I'm a bit tall, aren't I?" he joked. "I know they do things with CGI now, but I'm 6'1". Hobbits are little. I do have quite hairy toes, though."
(There’s video! Not of naked toes, however.)
So it falls to us to, finally, cast the damn movie and get it moving.
Here’s my dream cast:
Bilbo Baggins: Michael Sheen
Gandalf: Ian McKellan
Thorin Oakenshield: Peter Sarsgaard
Smaug: Alan Rickman
Elrond: Hugo Weaving
Gollum: Andy Serkis
Beorn: Clancy Brown
Bard the Bowman: Gerard Butler
(I wish there were some roles for women...)
Who’s in your dream cast?
Concerning hobbits:
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comments
posted by PaulW (Thu Jul 30 09, 11:18PM)
My dream cast for Teh Hobbit:
Bilbo Baggins: Sean Pertwee
Gandalf: Ian McKellan (obviously)
Thorin Oakenshield: BRIAN BLESSED
Smaug: Ben Kingsley
Elrond: Hugo Weaving (Obviously)
Gollum: Andy Serkis (Obviously)
Beorn: Clancy Brown
Bard the Bowman: Daniel Craig
The Monstrous Trolls: voiced by Tom Baker, Anthony Hopkins, and Christopher Lee
As for no women in the cast, they *could* always revamp one or two of the Questing dwarves as women (they ALL have beards, after all).
posted by Victor Plenty (Fri Jul 31 09, 3:38AM)
Gender-switching some dwarves is a brilliant idea. I still remember the paroxysms of nerd rage that swept across the Internets when the first leaks came out that Jackson had given a more physically active role to Arwen. That's the kind of publicity money just can't buy.
posted by Ben (Fri Jul 31 09, 4:20AM)
So you wish there were women to cast? I am interested to know why? Do you wish this was the case simply because then you could name some women actors, or because you have a specific idea for how adding women to the cast would improve the story?
I mean, it just seems a bit of an odd thing to say. Sure, perhaps it would have been nice if the original story had had some good females characters (although, do you think Tolkien really could have written good women?) but do you think a post-modern insertion of them would actually be a benefit to this particular movie? Hmmm perhaps Bard could be female?
I mean, do you wish there were women soldiers storming the beach in all those WW1/WW2 movies?
posted by Payton (Fri Jul 31 09, 6:13AM)
Bilbo Baggins: James McAvoy
Gandalf: Ian McKellan
Thorin Oakenshield: Harvey Keitel
Smaug: Javier Bardem
Elrond: Hugo Weaving
Gollum: Andy Serkis
Beorn: Russell Crowe
Bard the Bowman: Eric Bana (maybe)
Thranduil: Always thought Sam Neil would have been good but he too aged for the role now.
posted by bronxbee (Fri Jul 31 09, 12:32PM)
@ben: i have to ask -- what century are you living in? women comprise 50% of the human race (actually, more like 51%)... it would be nice to see them represented as part of the important events of The Hobbit (both the original fiction by Tolkein and any current movie project).
as for women not storming the beaches at Normandy -- that is a historical fact (as far as we're aware), not a fantasy setting. but there have been plenty of women soldiers in modern times who have fought and died for their countries. (what i'd really like to see is *no one* storming beaches and fighting bloody wars -- but then, we're back on fantasy ground again.)
posted by allochthon (Fri Jul 31 09, 2:43PM)
Alan Rickman as Smaug! Brilliant!
posted by Michael (Sat Aug 01 09, 12:24AM)
No, Alan Rickman needs to be Thranduil. Rickman's too snively to be Smaug. If he hadn't already played Saruman, I'd suggest Christopher Lee for that role.
posted by Ben (Sat Aug 01 09, 5:12AM)
@ Bronxbee
Sure, as I said it would have been nice if there were good women characters in the Hobbit (if they had improved/added to the story - and given Tolkien's history with writing women that is perhaps doubtful). As with the movie, if a female character (or characters) were added and improved the story, great.
What I was asking is how exactly would the addition of a women main character help? What do you see them bringing to the core story?
Representation isn't an addition to story (there were also no blacks, no asians, no kitty cats, no gays, no west nile crocodiles represented).
posted by Jim Evans (Sat Aug 01 09, 9:09AM)
Bilbo - Bob Hoskins (in book, Bilbo is not young)
Smaug - James Earl Jones
posted by Bluejay (Sun Aug 02 09, 8:09AM)
It may seem a small thing, but I wish folks would get his name right: McKellen, not McKellan.
We all deserve to have people make the effort to get our names right, both in speech and writing.
posted by PaulW (Mon Aug 03 09, 10:01AM)
James Earl Jones as Smaug???
SMAUG: Bilbo... *I*... am your father.
BILBO: NOOOOOOOOOOOO. Wait. EWWWWWWWWWWW.
posted by Newbs (Mon Aug 03 09, 2:03PM)
Yeah, I don't think you're allowed to play the voice of two major iconic villains.
Ron Perlman as Smaug, though? I can get behind that... plus with del Toro directing, it's very likely a shire thi... um... sure thing.
(yes, that last bit there was an actual typing error, I kept it in because it is awesome)
posted by bronxbee (Tue Aug 04 09, 10:58AM)
@ben: "What I was asking is how exactly would the addition of a women main character help? What do you see them bringing to the core story?"
that's a fair question, and i am really thinking it over. it would require some serious reworking of storylines and i have to say, i honestly don't know what could be done about it that wouldn't change the original story. so, for the moment, i have to say, i don't know, but i'm mulling.
posted by Mirene (Thu Aug 06 09, 6:56PM)
Bilbo must be played by Elijah Wood!Only!!!