Tom Waits in The Hobbit?

A new casting rumor from AICN suggest taht Tom Waits is being considered for a role in The Hobbit. Tom Waits is a singer, songwriter and actor whose list of work is extension enough that it is just easier to click here to see then try to summarize.

Another trusted anonymous name from way back -- who, I might add, had heard the Brian Cox rumours before I published them -- has another name to add to the pile: Tom Waits. As much as I'd like to say he's a lock, I'm told he's simply someone the production is talking about -- but they seem to be talking about him pretty seriously. But how inspired is this? So very left field, yet oddly perfect. And here I was thinking Cox was the coolest guy they could hand an axe to.