Jack Thompson as Thorin Oakenshield? (Updated)

The Hobbit films remain in greenlit limbo but that hasn't stopped the casting rumor mill from churning. The latest is from Have Phaser, Will Travel blog that reports that Jack Thompson is on the very short list for the role of Thorin Oakenshield. This information came from Thompson himself while Freecon was being held at his property, Hotel Gearin in Australia. Thorin is the leader of the company of Dwarves on a mission to reclaim their treasure from Smaug the Dragon with the help of Bilbo Baggins. It is one of the primary roles in the two films. Until the sale of MGM is finalized, the film is greenlit and an official budget is signed, pretty much all casting news remains rumors until the contracts are signed.

Update: Updated post to reflect Have Phaser, Will Travel as source rather then AICN. Also the blog provided a little more background about the news. Pictures of Thompson while at Freecon can be found at Have Phaser....

Jack Thompson already has a connection to Guillermo del Toro. Jack has been working with the man during the lensing of "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" in Melbourne. It's currently in post-production, and del Toro supposedly pulled Jack aside and said, "I want you to be my Thorin Oakenshield".

Jack did say to me, personally, after I mentioned that I was really looking forward to his Thorin performance, that "You know what it's like in show business - anything could still go wrong..." Here's me hoping he's already signed a contract. None of us thought to ask crucial stuff like that, not realising we were hearing such totally unknown "news".