The Hobbit : Dream Cast

[zxcvbn]

Disclaimer: I know there's probably been a thread about this sometime in the distant past, but I thought that since the movie has only recently been confirmed, we should start over.

Okay, who do you think should play the various characters in the Hobbit?My humble opinions:

Bilbo : Sir Ian Holm(for the sake of consistency; let them use the de-aging process that was used in X-Men 3 to make Magneto and Professor Xavier younger; otherwise they can have a Beowulf-esque CGI Ian Holm)

Gandalf: Sir Ian McKellen(No Question)

Thorin Oakenshield: Liam Neeson(A mature, middle-aged actor, but not yet in the 'wrinkled old men' league.

Thranduil: Jason Isaac(that arrogant sneer is befitting of the Elvenking)

Elrond: Hugo Weaving

For the White Council Scenes:

Galadriel: Cate Blanchett

Radagast: Michael Gambon

These are my thoughts for now. I'll post more names later. Any suggestions?

[Sauron the White]

My two cents - I would love to see some sense of continuity with these two films and the three LOTR films. That would mean having McKellen back as Gandalf and Serkis doing Gollum. Those two are definites. If there are roles in the second bridge film for people like Aragorn, Arwen, Legolas or others I would like to see the same actors. I did not like Hugo Weaving in the first films but mostly because I think his delivery of lines is extremely wooden and he acts in a style that seems more at home in a Cecil B. DeMille biblical epic. If that can be toned down I would favor giving him a shot for the sense of continuity.

Now to Ian Holm --- sorry but he is just too aged for Bilbo. They need somebody else who looks at les three decades younger and is physically capable of a more athletic performance with all Bilbo does in the films.

Okay - now this may anger some who like to play the casting game but that is as far as I want to go. I get extremely bored by all the wild speculation that so and so should play so and so. "Gee, wouldn't W.C. Fields be great as the Big Wahoo?"

Actors are just so much eye candy who are trained to read lines and deliver a performance that is prodded by a director wielding various treats and threats. I expect them to be professional, to be competent and to be good. If they are not, I expect the director to send them packing ala Stuart Townsend and then recast the role properly - ala Viggo Mortensen.

So speculate away but I have faith and confidence in the team putting this together and will not waste my time worrying about if the Harlem Globetrotters can really play all the Dwarves.

[zxcvbn]

STW, you have a point, but us poor fans need something to tide us over while we wait for news of the film's development. What can we do but speculate idly?

Here's more:

Balin: Bill Nighy

Saruman: Sir Christopher Lee(If he's still alive, and they'd better shoot his scenes first)

[Sauron the White]

zxcvbn... my apologies for looking like I am trying to rain on your parade ... and I do not mean to do that. There are exercises like this going on all over the boards that discuss Tolkien or film related topics. It is a favorite pasttime and certainly gives people something neat to do.

I wonder if you went back to the pre-LOTR casting days and read the posts in such a thread on something like torn or torc , what would you find. How many people do you think would have picked Viggo Mortensen for Aragorn? How many picked Ian McKellen for Gandalf? I wish I had a dollar for all the Sean Connery suggestions then I could buy a new car.

But have fun and maybe somebody will come up with a real gem beyond the obvious. Maybe you will even convice me

[Quempel]

As long as Jack Black doens't get cast as Bilbo.

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by Quempel

As long as Jack Black doesn't get cast as Bilbo.

Hey I think Jack Black's funny. But yes, not as Bilbo!

OK - if not Ian Holm as Bilbo (and note, the guy is not all that old [how rude!]) then I think Martin Freeman has the right tone and can do the little Englishman to a tee. Of course, Ian McK as Gandalf and Andy Serkis as Gollum. Etc.

Some more choices for my Dream Cast:
David Tennant voicing Smaug, Ray Winstone as Beorn, Johnny Depp for Thranduil (why not? ), Richard Armitage as Bard, Gordon Kennedy (currently in Robin Hood) or Philip Glenister (yes, Gene Hunt) as Thorin. For the rest of the Dwarves, an assortment of interesting faces older and younger as appropriate - which could include Jack Black if he could drop his Hollywood accent! Though he'd probably be far too expensive of course and I suspect Jackson would do some scouring of British telly for ideas again.

[Lyta_Underhill]

I don't think it would be too far out of line to suggest John Rhys-Davies as Gimli's dad Gloin, eh? On a slightly creepier note, what if they used Orlando Bloom as Legolas' dad Thranduil, too?

[TheGreatElvenWarrior]

Originally Posted by Lyta_Underhill

I don't think it would be too far out of line to suggest John Rhys-Davies as Gimli's dad Gloin, eh? On a slightly creepier note, what if they used Orlando Bloom as Legolas' dad Thranduil, too?

Ha! That would be very hilarious, but I think that a lot of people wouldn't like that very much!

[William Cloud Hicklin]

Hey, I'm not unopposed to Willis.

How about this cast, then?

Bruce Willis
Sam Jackson
John Travolta
Ving Rhames
Uma Thurman
Amanda Plummer
Tim Roth
Harvey Keitel


Working title:

Kill Bilbo, Vols. I & II.

[Sauron the White]

Uma Thurman is one one actor who would force me NOT to see a Middle-earth film.

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by William Cloud Hickli

Hey, I'm not unopposed to Willis.

How about this cast, then?

Bruce Willis
Sam Jackson
John Travolta
Ving Rhames
Uma Thurman
Amanda Plummer
Tim Roth
Harvey Keitel


Working title:

Kill Bilbo, Vols. I & II.

Incidentally, Philip Pullman's choice to play Lee Scoresby in The Golden Compass was Samuel L Jackson. That would have been fab. So long as there were no snake Daemons in his balloon or it might have got a X cert - "Get these **** snakes off this **** balloon"

[Sauron the White]

Yes --- but when an actor would be asked to play someone three decades younger - and that is in human terms - and do a physically strenuous role like Bilbo walking all across the wilds and mountains - then that rules Mr. Holm out.

Lee would be fine- much more than fine actually, and God willing he can be with us to do it again with the White Council scenes that have been rumored.

[Keeper of Dol Guldur]

It's been a long while, but I was looking at an article about The Hobbit movies, had a thought, and knew you vigilant posters would have a "Cast "The Hobbit"" thread!

So, here are my thoughts. Some of them are pretty obvious recasts from LOTR, but hey ... hopefully some are clever.

Bilbo Baggins - Dominic Monaghan! A few years have passed, so he'll be a tad less youthful, more apt to play a 50-something Hobbit. Basically, I looked at the shot of Ian Holm with his face all stretched back to clean up the wrinkles ... and I thought to myself ... "hey, actually he looks a fare bit like Dom Monaghan ... how 'bout that?". Not to mention, their voices aren't dissimilar.

Gandalf the Grey - Ian McKellan, the no-brainer.

Thorin Oakenshield - John Goodman, of "Roseanne" fame. He can be really fun and really cool ... but did you ever see those episodes of Roseanne where he flipped out in anger? (Quite a few of them, actually) Terrifying. And PERFECT for Thorin. You'd buy him as the toughest, most bitter dwarf of all.

Balin - Jonathan Pryce. He can do something of a Scots accent like JRD did, anyone who's seen Ronin can attest to it. (Where he played an IRA terrorist leader ... hey, Sean Bean was in that flick as well). Plus, he can play the kindly old man of the dwarves part, really well.

Dwalin - Billy Connolly. The guy is funny, and it'd be funny to see the moderately light-hearted Dwalin interact with his over-burdened, sorrowful older brother, Balin. Plus, Billy Connolly eats up scenery and only makes movies better. A highlight might be him playing the fiddle at Bilbo's home.

Gloin - Get John Rhys-Davies back to play his own father. Give he and Balin a ton of screen-time, just as the two dwarves Bilbo talks to the most. Balin, naturally as the oldest and wisest, Gloin as the most seasoned warrior of all 13 (save Thorin, perhaps).

Oin - Not sure here ... but we're talking about the brother of Gloin, and so he has to resemble John Rhys-Davies. Call it the least original idea, but I'd say Robbie Coltrane (Harry Potter's "Hagrid") could fit. He's a little smaller than JRD, but they both have that kind of jovial, but fierce look.

Dori - The biggest, brawniest of the dwarves. And grumbling non-stop. Get Vinnie Jones (Juggernaut in X-Men 3, Sphinx in Gone in 60 Seconds). He'd make a good pessimist, and I don't think carrying Dom Monaghan through some caves would phase him much. He's worked with Ian McKellan before so he might be happy to work with him again.

Bombur - Clive Russell, "Helfdane the Fat" of The 13th Warrior, and a swords and fantasy movie mainstay! Comes with a Scottish accent built in! Big, cheerful looking guy. Grows a good beard naturally. He's 6' 5".

Elrond Half-Elven - Hey, how about that Hugo Weaving guy?

The Great Goblin - How about Jed Brophy?

Gollum - Hey, how about that Andrew Serkis guy?

Beorn - Ron Perlman. Hey, the Guillermo Del Toro connection is there, and with that "Grizzly" voice and look of his ... he'd make an amazing Were-Bear. Guy is perfect for this role. Ironic that some of the dwarf actors are bigger than him, but hey, they have to be shrunken down to scale anyway.

King Thranduil - He's an elf, so he has to be pretty. But you don't want him to be pretty like Orlando Bloom or Cate Blanchet ... Thranduil is the king of the rustics, and is a pretty petty and treacherous guy. I think Clive Owen could work. Good looking cat, but smiles and happy faces don't sit as naturally with him as a furrowed brow and a frown do. But he definitely passes off that "timeless elf" quality.

Master of Lake-town - Peter Jackson! Imagine ol' Pete in a boat loaded with stolen treasure, rowing away, where he'll run off into the wild and die! Quite a laugh, that!

Bard the Bowman - This requires someone grimmer, grimmer even than Aragorn. Totally, utterly pessimistic - that is until he hears that bird talk. I say Christian Bale is the man for the job. Although he practically already played that character in "3:10 to Yuma". (Self-despising, cynical, downtrodden, and hey - an expert shot!).

Smaug - CG does wonders these days ... but Smaug's voice needs to impress. I'm sure whoever does the movie will no doubt tweak the voice to make it booming and dragonish, but as a base ... and this could be way off ... howsabout Dani Filth? (Of the black metal band, Cradle of Filth, for those who don't know). The man has the most ridiculous vocal range on Earth, from highs to lows. Either that or in some bizarre twist of fate ... Leonard Nimoy.

Dain Ironfoot - For Dain I think I'll agree with somebody's decision that Brendan Gleeson is a good pick. Quite so!