10 Things You Didn't Know About The Hobbit Trilogy
8. Sherlock Almost Cost Jackson His Bilbo
Its been well documented that Peter Jackson only ever really considered one actor as a viable candidate to play Bilbo Baggins. Martin Freemans performances in The Office and The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy earmarked the English actor for the lead in The Hobbit, but securing his services proved anything but straightforward. Bankruptcy issues affecting rights holders MGM caused numerous delays to the planned production, and by the time Jackson was in a position to formally approach Freeman the actor was already committed to filming the second series of Sherlock. Jacksons predicament was such that just six weeks before shooting was supposed to begin he still didnt have a lead actor in place, causing sleepless nights as he has described torturing myself by watching Sherlock on an iPad at 4 oclock in the morning. Daniel Radcliffe, Shia Laboeuf, James McAvoy and Tobey Maguire were all apparently under consideration to play Bilbo instead, but Jackson was set on casting Freeman, even if it meant dramatically altering the production schedule. Which is exactly what ended up happening, with the director shutting down production completely for a two-month spell after an initial four months of shooting in order to allow Freeman to return to England and fulfil his commitments. Jackson has since acknowledged that the delay was actually beneficial and gave him a head-start editing early footage and addressing some technical areas, but other casting concerns also threatened to derail his plans.
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