The Hobbit Begins Filming in July

The official website of Sir Ian McKellen reports that the over year long production of the two Hobbit films will begin this July in New Zealand.

THE HOBBIT's, two films, start shooting in New Zealand in July. Filming will take over a year. Casting in Los Angeles, New York City and London has started. The script too proceeds. The first draft is crammed with old and new friends, again on a quest in Middle Earth.

The director Guillermo del Toro is now living in Wellington, close to the Jacksons' and the studio in Miramar.

201? THE HOBBIT
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Role: Gandalf

The exact release date remains December 2011 but the question mark above seems to indicate the possibility of that changing. As for where, how to get involved in casting, sadly I don't have that information.