How about making it really radical? So forget al the "fan-poster"-idols and those more "beautiful than life" and cast a film with actually ordinary looking people? Well as they would be elves (and the Valar, the Maiar and the baddies) in the case of Silm as most, they should share some characteristics of them, but anyhow. So dissing all the "supermodels" and the fan-magazine -guys. Just making it for real in a sense?
Why Frodo is somewhat unbelievable in the films but Sam is believable? Because the first is the "poster boy" to gain the teen-audiences, and the other is the comical (fat) helper (which he is not) who actually does some real acting.
I've just been looking at a couple of "independent" films and the thing that struck me in them, was that the roles were not given to those who'd be perfectly beautiful / handsome (ready for the covers of the top magazines), but to those who were looking real and acted as they were the people they acted.
I mean, c'mon. The Pirates of the Caribbean vol.2 (or one to that matter). Yes Johnny Depp and Orlado are model-kind of guys (and Depp is also a good actor) and Keira is a very sexy. No doubt about these. But should those kind of persons - with our century's ideals of "being hot" - have been around the time of these pirate adventures? Probably not...
It might be just in vain to call for "real people" to act on Silmarillion, but surely, we could have some real-looking Elves around in the film (like those appearing shortly in the PJ film where the Fellowship is caught in Lorien - in the theater version - unhappily the best Elves were cut out from the extended version...and the most unelflike were given the lead roles, at least the males)? And anyhow, real personas, not just the cover guys and gals' who normally can't do anything else but look pretty / handsome?