Dominic Monaghan Wants to Return to Middle Earth
Filed under: Classics, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Casting, MGM, RumorMonger, Scripts, Newsstand, Peter Jackson, Remakes and Sequels
I can never decide if the quotes from various Lord of the Rings actors on their participation in The Hobbit are merely wishful thinking on the part of all involved, or if they represent actual plans to bring back every last hobbit, Ent, and Ranger. The latest rumor comes from Dominic Monaghan, who caught up with MTV at Sundance, and implied there had been talks to include our faithful hobbits in that much desired adaptation of The Hobbit. "They really want us to come back, and I think there's a really strong chance that we might be back. We're not in The Hobbit, no, but I think the idea in [Jackson's, Del Toro's and the other producers'] heads is that the trilogy of the Lord of the Rings films was so beloved by the fans that they're really keen to try to say thank you for the support that they gave to the Lord of the Rings movies and possibly bring back some of those characters that they know and love."
Now, I think the last solid Guillermo del Toro update we had suggested that The Hobbit might be split into two films, but keep strictly to the adventures of Bilbo, Gandalf, the dwarves, and their fight with Smaug, and the battle of Laketown. That sounds so much more sensible than a "bridge" film, as much as Middle Earth geeks would like to see some of those appendices.
On the other hand, everyone from LOTR seems to think they're coming back. I can accept Aragorn since he was actually alive and fighting during the events of The Hobbit. But Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin weren't -- and while the actors could ostensibly play other Baggins, Gamgees, Tooks, and Brandybucks, I really don't want that. The characters I know and love exist solely in Lord of the Rings, and I want to be thanked with an adapation of The Hobbit that is true to J.R.R. Tolkien's novel, not by weird cameos.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1-20-2009 @ 3:43PM
Astin said...
Well, there is a company of dwarves to be cast, and a variety of villagers, so the actors could be cast in other, non-hobbit roles if desired.
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1-20-2009 @ 4:05PM
Evan said...
I wouldn't mind too much having other actors come back in different roles, but i think the general movie going public might be far too confused. I agree with the post, they should only use actors who are alive during the time line of The Hobbit and considering (at least to my knowledge) the exploits of Marry, Pippin, Sam, and Frodo are non-existent till the Trilogy it wouldn't make much sense to throw them in for a pseudo story.
one thing i'm really wondering about; who is going to play Bilbo? the actor from the Trilogy did a great job, but he has gotten much older, and that would also throw off a general movie going audience. I heard a rumor a while ago about James McAvoy taking the role. ::shrug:: I'll take every casting rumor with a pile of salt until Del Toro himself announces the official cast
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1-20-2009 @ 5:31PM
James said...
They should not show any characters that were not in the book. These actors need to find other jobs. Although it would be awesome if Ian came back.
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1-20-2009 @ 7:42PM
Roy Behymer said...
Definitely, if the characters were in LOTR but not in the Hobbit, then they shouldn't be in the film version either. The only way it would be acceptable to bring the actors back when their characters aren't in the Hobbit, would be to give them characters that require such heavy make-up and prosthetics that they wouldn't be recognizable. There were enough changes in the film version of the LOTR that shouldn't have been made. Don't make even worse errors by introducing these characters who don't belong in the Hobbit.
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1-20-2009 @ 7:43PM
Jason Lloren said...
Lighten up, it's only a movie.
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1-21-2009 @ 10:03AM
Kevin said...
First off, if it were only a movie than it wouldn't be the wildly successfuly franchise that is. Transformers is only a movie, LotR is a cultural force that has lasted decades. So I can understand why people would want it handled carefully. Thats not to say the director can't take liberties and change things, but the audience demands that those changes be thoughtful and have a purpose, and one thats beyond "lets do this to make more money". That attitude is one of the reasons fans were so happy that Del Toro was tapped to helm it; he won't mix and match the story to fit some preconcieved notion of what it should be.
Having said that, I just wanted to thank Elisabeth for actually making sense (something many people who post about LotR's do not do). I continuously see people outraged that Aragorn would be back..."How dare you?! How can you bring back a character to a story that happened decades before LotR? He wasn't even born!" Just glad that you actually know how old Aragorn really is.
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2-05-2009 @ 3:26AM
john said...
read an interview which talked about film #1 being a faithful take on the hobbit as written & film #2 a bridge between the hobbit & the lotr trilogy; film #2 could therefore include some lotr characters as a prequel & any lotr characters would be played by original cast members.....plus film #2 would be scripted free-form by peter jackson to allow him to indulge his creative musings without trying to match an existing tolkien manuscript while paying homage to tolkien
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