[ainur]

At the press conference following the Oscars, Peter Jackson said that New Line has the rights to make a film of "The Hobbit," but that MGM holds the distribution rights. He also said that their respective lawyers are negotiating and that he would definitely be interested in directing, if they can get it worked out. He wants to keep it within the same look and mythology, consistent with LotR, so it would probably start with the same casting from LotR (Ian Holm as Bilbo, Ian McKellan as Gandalf, Andy Serkis as Gollum, etc.) and go from there (if possible). This would also, in my opinion, result in a film that has a darker tone and more adult approach than "The Hobbit" book, which was intended as a children's story. That's not necessarily a bad thing, though, as long as the story is essentially the same.

As for casting, I would like to see the story "opened up" to include the White Council, as it would explain Gandalf's frequent departures, and set up the Necromancer as Sauron. That would then include Cate Blanchett and Christopher Lee reprising their roles. Should we see Orlando Bloom in Mirkwood? Briefly, I think, yes. Might Aragorn and Arwen have been at Imladris when the dwarves came trooping through?--there's a couple more cameos.

As for the other major characters: The dwarves would all be in heavy make-up, so their look would matter less than their personality on camera. It should probably be a mix of well-known actors and up-and-coming young stars. The keys here are Thorin (for obvious reasons), Balin (more because of his mention in LotR in Moria) Gloin (to tie Gimli into the story some way) Bombur (mostly for comic relief) and Fili and Kili (young heart-throbs under the make-up.) So:

Thorin: For some reason, Michael Douglas comes to mind, maybe because of the haughty conceit he displays while still maintaining some appeal.

Balin: Warm and courteous, yet still a dwarf--difficult to pull off. I see Patrick Stewart.

Gloin: John Rhys-Davies would not be out of line here, especially since Gimli doesn't make an appearance in this story.

Bombur: Jack Black? maybe.

Fili and Kili: Who knows. "King Kong" will take two years to complete, and that's longer than the average half-life of a young heart-throb's career. It could be anyone by then.

Thranduil: Why not Sean Connery? (if New Line can deal with his publicist--his face must always be the largest image on the poster, etc.)

Beorn: No ideas right now. I'll edit this if I think of someone.

Bard: Definitely the leading man type. Matthew McConaughey comes to mind, but it kind of depends on where you want to go with the character.

"Bard's leading lady": I know there's no such character in the book, but to make the movie commercial, you gotta have one. This would depend a lot on finding someone who has chemistry with whomever is cast as Bard.