Casting Movement on “The Hobbit”
April 28, 2008

Only days after the official announcement that Hellboy and Pan’s Labyrinth director Guillermo Del Toro would be directing the two Lord of the Rings prequel films from the classic J.R.R. Tolkein classic The Hobbit, the gang at The One Ring got a casting update from Del Toro himself.

In a recent interview with The One Ring, Guillermo Del Toro revealed that he’s already reached out and had initial discussions on the casting with several people in an effort to bring back key players from the Rings franchise. In the interview, Del Toro reveals, "... in the last few weeks I've been chatting with a ton of people via email, phone, and in person from the previous films. People like Andy Serkis, Sir Ian McKellen, Howard Shore, John Howe, Gino Acevedo, Richard Taylor next week I'm meeting Alan Lee. I'm doing this to ensure that whatever we do we keep continuity with the other films."

As well, Del Toro confirmed that he’s already talked to both McKellen and Serkis about returning to the roles of Gandalf and Gollum and both will be back providing all logistics can be overcome and negotiations go smooth and don’t present any conflicts.

As we reported last week, Del Toro will be moving to New Zealand to prepare for the The Hobbit with producer Peter Jackson, who turned over the directing reigns in 2007 after a fierce legal battle ensued with New Line Cinema over the film. According to Del Toro in the interview, he'll be a busy man before he makes the move, which will last around four years, "Approximately, my whole family, but the first stages of design and R&D will be done with me going back and fourth from LA and New Zealand because there are a lot of things I need to put to bed before I finally move to New Zealand. I’m going much sooner than my relatives would like!"

For the full exclusive interview with Guillermo Del Toro, be sure to head over to The One Ring for all of the goods.