UPDATED: It would seem
James Nesbitt has been offered the role of Bofur, who those familiar with the novel will know as a dwarf. Nesbitt is 5"11, so I guess it'll be the same photographic trickery that made John Rhys Davies look pint-sized in the original trilogy. Still no word on what role Tennant and Fassbender are circling but there are two other dwarves who take up the quest with Bofur, Bilbo Baggins and the as yet uncast Thorin Oakenshield, if that means anything. Original article follows... There's something intensely gratifying about seeing an actor - who you know deep down in your gut is the perfect man to portray a particular part, and have indeed already spent hundreds of words testifying as much - to actually be the one who is chosen for the dance. But for it to happen twice in a week, well it's put me on top of the world, quite frankly. I couldn't be happier. Just days after
Tom Hardy was cast as The Riddler for 'Batman 3', comes news from
Deadline that lovable Brit
Martin Freeman is very close to working out a deal to play Bilbo Baggins in '
The Hobbit'. This comes just hours after the film was officially greenlit for a back-to-back February shoot, with
Peter Jackson returning to direct. It's the perfect scenario - the man behind the 'Lord of the Rings' film trilogy directing the perfect embodiment of a young Baggins, but boy did it take some time to get them both here? Expect casting to flood in fast now as WB/MGM/Jackson look to secure their new Middle-Earth occupants. Hot off the press reports say
James Nesbitt has been offered a role, and that
David Tennant (who could have made an interesting Bilbo) &
Michael Fassbender are also being courted. What characters they are, I can't quite fathom but when you add those names to
Ian McKellen (Gandalf) and
Andy Serkis (Gollum), well that's a helluva cast right there. I know that much.