Billy Connolly on Dáin Ironfoot
 

Hello all. Are people aware of these quotes from Billy Connolly regarding his appearance in one (or more) of the films of The Hobbit (presumably Part 3, but who knows right now) as Dáin Ironfoot?
From http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/ent...lly-the-brave/
And from http://www.news.com.au/news/family-e...-1226394550913
Now I realise that this is Billy Connolly we're talking about and that everything he says must be taken with a grain of salt. Nonetheless, what would people think about this depiction of the eventual King under the Mountain?
I personally have a soft spot for some of Professor Tolkien's secondary characters. Prince Imrahil is one and Dáin Ironfoot is another. I always imagined Dáin as a rather grim character, clearly an accomplished soldier and combatant, but not as some kind of pig-riding berserker type (it sounds rather reminiscent of Warhammer Fantasy for those who are familiar with the franchise) so this has me feeling a little uneasy. On the other hand though Dáin is never really described, although the idea of Dwarves with mohawks seems a bit outlandish. Personally while I'm not a great fan of the films in general (and am rather pessimistic about The Hobbit) one of the things I appreciated was that the design seemed, most of the time, to not go down the route of the "sillier" potential of a Fantasy world. The Hobbit, with its many Dwarves, seems to not quite be adhering as closely to the same policy. So what would you think of pig-riding punk Dáin?

The thought almost makes me want to cry.

As you say, this is not Warhammer Fantasy. Unfortunately, it is well within my realm of expectation for Jackson's demented brain.

Of all the head-shaking and aggrivating news that's come out on The Hobbit, I'm actually taking the "riding a wild pig" as a joke. Since it is from Billy Connolly, who I quite adore as an actor, and he's had some very memorable roles (although, I'm still rather unsure about him cast as Dain).

Anyway, on this one, even with all the other craziness surrounding the films, I'm willing to bet Connolly is referring to all the bacon sarnies he's likely got packed away on set. :p :D

Why a joke? It's certainly not as humorous as that other Hobbit movie conveyance, Radagast on a sled being pulled by killer rabbits [insert Holy Grail punchline here].

Billy Connolly is a noted comedian and actually has done many gags about pigs and bacon sandwiches. To those familiar with some of his comedy, there is a lot of irony if he would be riding a wild pig as Dain. But like, I said this rests on is Billy Connolly going to his comedian roots here, and intending the irony, or actually serious about his role as Dain in the film. Out of all the news out on The Hobbit, since it is coming from Connolly, and since he's done comedy skits on pigs and bacon, I'm taking this one as a joke.

I don't think a goat would be too far fetched, but a pig? Maybe boars but there is really no way they'd be able to tame boars. Joke it must be.

Well it looks like the "Dwarves riding pigs" thing is true, including Dáin; at least that's what the Games Workshop leak would suggest. What a shame - that's an unnecessary break with the Professor's writing. I'm not much of a fan of things being changed just to make them more "in your face" and weird, which it seems more and more is being done to the Dwarves. I really like the Dwarves in the books so I hope we get at least some representation of their dignified and noble side (through Thorin perhaps).

Games-Workshop is also not a reliable movie information place.

GW is primarily known for it's Warhammer taple-top gaming. When the LOTR movies came out, GW came out with an LOTR set. This includes a whole host of characters and troops that aren't in the movies at all. Like Druzkahg the Mordor orc shaman, or the Black Guard of Barad-dur. It's gaming fan-fic.

All the GW announcement means is they have rights to create miniatures for their taple-top game using Hobbit characters. It does not mean these characters will appear in the movies, nor the troops they create will appear in the movies. GW can create whatever they want now when it comes to their gaming fan-fic dreams and slap it under their Hobbit set.

(Basically, until Jackson, or someone more official regarding the movies, that is not a comedian and not a gaming place that makes up what it wants says Dain is on a pig. Or until the movies are out when Dain is clearly riding a pig, this is still all rumour).

That makes sense; I apologise for presenting it as any kind of fact. I feel like I should point out though that with the models for The Lord of the Rings, Games Workshop stuck closely to what was in the films (with a few forays into things from the books but not the films) until they'd exhausted pretty much everything from them. It was only several years after The Return of the King that they started to invent their own stuff, but then again they might not have exercised that kind of restraint this time. It still seems like too much of a coincidence to me but I can very much appreciate why we should remain skeptical of pig-riding Dwarves. Believe me, if it turns out to be completely false of the film I will be deeply relieved, and far more disappointed in Games Workshop! Nonetheless the correlation is making me uneasy.