The Hobbit Casting Begins

While promoting his latest release The Lovely Bones, Peter Jackson said in an interview that auditions for the Hobbit has begun this week with every role but Gandalf (Ian McKellen) up for grabs.

From Heat Vision Blog:

“We’re auditioning for every role,” Jackson said in an interview, adding he is a big believer in casting a wide net to better match actors with the roles.

“What we’ve done over the years is discover a lot of interesting actors, like Orlando Bloom (in 'Rings'), Kate Winslet (in 'Heavenly Creatures'), Saoirse Ronan (in 'The Lovely Bones'). So if you start looking and auditioning seriously, it’s amazing what incredible talent you’ll find out there.”

“Apart from Ian McKellen, who we obviously want to return as Gandalf, we are not really offering any roles to anybody until we’ve done a casting sweep,” Jackson said.

“(These movies) have never been a star-driven vehicle. The star is (author J.R.R.) Tolkien and the world he created. We are not under any pressure. We want to find the right people. Casting someone to portray a hobbit is not as easy as you might imagine. They have to have a particular type of physical appearance and a sensibility. And the same with an elf or a dwarf. These are fantastical characters, but you’ve got to find the right people to play them, the right humans to translate these characters.”

“We were always planning to shoot around April or May next year, and as far as I’m aware, we’re pretty much on target for that. It depends on how quickly the studio greenlights the film. It’s not in our hands. But as long as we‘re shooting next year, we’re fine.”

Casting is being handled in Los Angeles and London. Exactly by who, where, on what dates and the roles was not revealed. One additional bit is at least one female role is up for grabs but again no details beyond that. I guess if you have agents, time to get them on the phone to start getting those details if interested in trying out.