No matter how many times Guillermo del Toro and Peter Jackson mention bringing back every Lord of the Rings cast member they possibly can, it causes a flurry of excitement. Even if it remains unconfirmed, everyone is just so excited that it might as well be signed into contract.

And this time is no exception. Del Toro casually mentioned to Variety that talks have begun with Viggo Mortensen, Andy Serkis and Ian McKellen -- or, at least, preliminary contact has been made. There's not much talk of recasting, either, should someone be unavailable. "I am all for keeping the actors who originated the parts, as much as availability and their willingness will allow."

Pre-production is about to begin on The Hobbit, with Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens tackling the screenplay under the direction of Jackson and del Toro. "We will all be involved in the script in some fashion but the exact definition is about a week away." So, there might be some very cool announcements made during that Hobbit chat. (Have you sent your questions, yet?)

I feel like I'm calling a golf tournament with Hobbit news sometimes, like I should be whispering "preliminary contact has been made." But please don't mistake that for careless sarcasm. The thought of Viggo Mortensen returning as Aragorn, son of Arathorn, is enough to keep me awake at night. I love that character. Tolkien could have devoted ten books to him, and I would have never gotten sick of him.

Just a month after the news that Sir Ian McKellen was "waiting for the call" to reprise his role as Gandalf in the upcoming Hobbit films, and a few days after the official announcement that the rumors about Guillermo Del Toro directing are true, TheOneRing.net has gotten word from Del Toro that, "all bureaucracy pending," McKellen is on board to play Gandalf, and Andy Serkis is happy to again lend his body to Gollum. Further confirmation of McKellen's intention to return comes from McKellen's official website (which he maintains himself), where he includes The Hobbit in his filmography. And Serkis seems to have done the same.

In the interview, Del Toro also makes the promising announcement that he plans to treat Peter Jackson's films "as canon," with the only major changes being greater use of animatronics (rather than pure CGI) and a subtly different color palette.

This project has been very abstract in my mind, and my excitement about it has been sort of theoretical and vague -- until now. Now it's coming together, not just as a cool new pair of movies, but as an extension of Peter Jackson's masterpiece. It's hard to describe just how much Jackson's films mean to me (I rewatch them at least annually), and it says a lot about my admiration of Del Toro that I'm not queasy about someone else messing with the saga. It also says a lot about McKellen's importance to the franchise that it took the news of his return for me to wake up out of my stupor and get genuinely psyched. Let the countdown begin.

[parts via CinemaBlend]

It's those little stories that speak volumes.

As you may remember, Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson are collaborating to bring the popular Tintin series to life. Now comes the news, from a recent Andy Serkis interview, that Spielberg intends to tackle the first film and Jackson the second. No one yet knows who might be directing the third film.

The bulk of shooting starts in September, but Serkis was flying out immediately to start work. While that conjures images that he'll be donning a leotard and bouncing around for the computers, he's playing a human (Captain Haddock) this time. When asked if he was afraid that Jackson would have him playing Snowy the Dog, Serkis had a good laugh: "Absolutely, in fact people assume that I am, which is even more disturbing."

If Serkis is reporting for duty, hopefully Tintin will start kicking into high gear, and fans can expecting some really exciting news very soon -- maybe there will be some announcements buried in all those upcoming Indiana Jones 4 press conferences.

[via CHUD]

Dreamworks is not confirming, but The Hollywood Reporter feels pretty certain that Andy Serkis has been added to the cast of Tintin. Tintin is a planned movie trilogy with Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg, and each is expected to direct one of the installments. The director of the third movie has not been announced. Both filmmakers certainly know their way around a successful trilogy, so this is a project I'm excited about. Tintin is an adaptation of a European comic strip created by Georges "Herge" Remi, and Serkis is expected to play Captain Haddock, "a temperamental sea captain." (Really, is there any other kind of sea captain?)

In the comics, Tintin is "a young Belgian reporter and world traveler who is aided in his adventures by his faithful dog Snowy and later accompanied by characters like Haddock, Professor Cuthbert Calculus and bumbling detectives Thomson and Thompson." The script for the first picture is being written by Steven Moffat, a British television writer responsible for episodes of Coupling, Doctor Who, and Jekyll. Serkis of course "played" Gollum in Jackson's Lord of the Rings series, as well as Kong in King Kong -- both using a type of performance capture technology. Tintin will use performance capture as well, and the movie will be produced in Digital 3-D a la Beowulf. The first film in the series is expected in 2009.

As The Golden Compass hits theaters, the trailer for New Line's next big fantasy flick, Inkheart, has arrived online alongside a website. When Cinematical flew to London earlier this year to visit the set of Compass, Inkheart was the other movie we got to check out ... and we (meaning I) dug it. Based on the novel by Cornelia Funk (which, like Compass, is the first in a trilogy -- with Inkspell and the soon-to-be-released Inkdeath following behind), Inkheart follows the story of a man named Mo (Brendan Fraser doing his best Mummy lite) who has the ability to read stories aloud and bring fictional characters to life. When he brings three characters from the book Inkheart into the real world, Mo and his daughter Meggie (Eliza Bennett) soon find they've bit off more than they can chew.

The greatest thing about Inkheart: The Movie? Andy Serkis plays the villain! Ah, but this time he's not covered in CGI (Gollum from Lord of the Rings) or ape hair (King Kong); yes, this time, Serkis gets to play a real-life guy (or, well, a character from a book who's brought to life). And based on the trailer, he looks great. Also starring in the film are Helen Mirren, Paul Bettany and Jim Broadbent. We'll have a full report from the set of Inkheart shortly before its March 19 release date. Until then, enjoy the trailer and let us know what you think.

For those who were confused, irritated or just plain disappointed with the ridiculous Yahoo Serious comedy Young Einstein, you'll be happy to know that everyone's favorite physicist is getting a legitimate early-years biopic soon. According to Variety, Lionsgate has purchased the worldwide life rights to Albert Einstein, which kinda sounds like they now own the guy and could make a clone army (that probably wouldn't be so bad). Lionsgate has also bought the rights to Walter Isaacson's book Einstein: His Life and Universe, which was the first biography to dip into the genius' private archives. Isaacson will also serve as a consultant on the film, which also gained access to Einstein's correspondence and papers, which are currently owned by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The story will focus on Einstein's life from about 20 to 40, at which age he won the Nobel Prize in Physics. The film will apparently show the man as a rebel who challenged existing scientific theories but will also deal with personal and romantic plots.

All I can say is, it's about time. But this is me, a total geek who wears Einstein t-shirts. Of course, this is also me, the guy who is really bad at science and has never really read much on Einstein's actual work. I'm mostly interested in his personality, which is why I'm excited to see him get a decent biopic. As far as I can tell or remember, there hasn't ever been a good Einstein movie -- even if you have a guilty spot for Yahoo Serious, his movie was by no means about the real genius. Aside from Serious, we've seen Walter Matthau play the guy in I.Q. and Michael Emil sorta play him in Insignificance. According to the IMDb, there are at least three Einstein biopics in the works, one of which is probably Lionsgate's. One of them is about the friendship between Einstein and Paul Robeson, played by (last we heard) Ben Kingsley and Danny Glover, respectively, and another is being directed by Liliana Cavani with Vincenzo Amato (The Golden Door) playing the lead (I guess Giovanni Ribisi jumped the gun when he said he was cast in that film). There's also a British TV-movie in the works with Andy Serkis as Einstein.

I'm still not sold on this performance-capture stuff (Beowulf looks terrible), but leave it to Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson and a little adventuring character named Tintin to change my mind ... hopefully. Dreamworks and producer Kathleen Kennedy (E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial) are busy working on their 3-D animated trilogy based on Georges "Herge" Remi's iconic Belgian reporter character, and I'm really hoping they get it right. Although they haven't yet found a third filmmaker to helm the installment not being directed by Spielberg or Jackson, they have hired a screenwriter. According to The Hollywood Reporter, British television vet Steven Moffat will script all three parts. The guy has written for series' as diverse as Coupling, Doctor Who and this past summer's Jekyll. Is he ready to tackle such a big-deal project?

Personally, I'm not worried about the scripts for the Tintin movies. Herge was such a great storyteller that I can't imagine it would be difficult to adapt his work. What I'm more worried about is how the film will look. From what we've heard so far, they're attempting something that looks realistic (or live-action) while still retaining the look of Herge's drawings (which are cartoons). Sure, I want to be able to trust Spielberg and Jackson (as Scott mentioned awhile back: if you can't trust them, who can you trust?), but then I haven't seen any performance-capture work that I've been satisfied with -- at least not anything that encompassed an entire film and all of its characters. Will it be more like Robert Zemeckis' Beowulf, which looks too much like a video game, or will it be more like Jackson's work with Andy Serkis in both his Lord of the Rings trilogy and King Kong? Or will it be something totally new, unlike anything we've ever seen? All I have to say is that I hope Zemeckis isn't the third director hired.

After breaking into the big time playing (and modeling for) CGI characters Gollum (in The Lord of the Rings trilogy) and King Kong, it is time that Andy Serkis becomes recognized for his own face as much as for his versatile acting talents. You may have seen him in supporting roles in Hollywood fare like 13 Going on 30 or The Prestige, and you can see him as the villain in the upcoming fantasy Inkheart, but you probably haven't had the opportunity to see him carry a film mostly on his own. Fortunately you may get to soon, as he's just been cast as one of the leads in The Cottage. I say you may get to because The Cottage is being made by a hot, up-and-coming British director named Paul Andrew Williams, who has been receiving a lot of awards and acclaim abroad for his debut feature, London to Brighton, but who hasn't been given any attention from American distributors yet.

The Cottage is to be a black comedy horror film about a botched kidnapping of a crime boss' daughter. Serkis will be playing one of two brothers who perform the failed crime and who then find themselves mixed up in some kind of "rural secret". The other brother will likely be played by British comedy star Reece Shearsmith. Other cast members include Jennifer Ellison and Steve O'Donnell. Since there are no real international stars, the chances of The Cottage getting a release in the U.S. are low, but hopefully enough Peter Jackson fans will want to see Serkis in the spotlight and will give Hollywood a reason to pick this one up.

If Williams' work doesn't get a proper showing over here, there may be other chances to see Serkis in a starring role. It was just announced by HBO Films and the BBC that he will be playing Albert Einstein in a made-for-TV biopic. There isn't certainty that we will be able to easily see this film either, but it definitely shows that Serkis is on the right path to bigger and more well-known things.

Earlier this month I had a chance to visit the set of Inkheart in London, where a bunch of us were treated to a whirlwind of a tour that included meeting with pic's production designer, John Beard, for a walk through the film via stills and conceptual designs. Today, a lot of those same stills (minus a few fun ones that will most likely show up prior to Inkheart's release) were released online, and IGN has a gallery from which to choose from. Also on hand to chat with us were the film's stars -- Brendan Fraser, Helen Mirren, Paul Bettany, Andy Serkis and Eliza Bennett -- who, while tired and wiped from non-stop filming, managed to share a little bit of the Inkheart experience.

Based on the popular book (which is the first of three), Inkheart tells the story of a father (Fraser) and daughter (Bennett) who have the ability to read characters to life. However, when the wrong characters make their way into our very real world -- hell-bent on staying put -- it's up to our father and daughter to rescue their loved ones and save the day. While, essentially, a fantasy flick, I was very impressed with the large elaborate sets that were actually built for the film; in fact, most of our tour took place on the very set where Inkheart's climactic scene was set to take place later that week. Very cool stuff, I must say. Inkheart is due out sometime next year, and I shall provide you with a full set report real soon ... so stay tuned.

The versatile actor Andy Serkis is a busy. busy man these days. Fresh from his appearances in The Prestige, Stormbreaker and the upcoming Longford for director Tom Hooper, Serkis has now booked yet another new role -- the villain Capricorn in director Iain Softley's upcoming family fantasy pic for New Line Inkheart. The film is based on the first novel from fantasy author Cornelia Funke and tells the story of a father who, in order to entertain his daughter, brings characters from books to life. Writer David Lindsy-Abaire, who also scripted the recent Robots, is handling the adaptation duties.

Serkis is not the only one jumping aboard Inkheart though. Also joining him will be Helen Mirren, of John Boorman's Excalibur and the recent The Queen, Rafi Gavron of Anthony Minghella's upcoming Breaking and Entering and the lovely Sienna Guillory, fresh from her role as Arya in the fantasy pic Eragon -- for director (and ILM alum) Stefan Fangmeir.

These new actors make fine additions to Inkheart's growing cast which already includes star Brendan Fraser, Paul Bettany and the terrific Jim Broadbent. With the addition of Serkis, Guillroy and an acting heavyweight like Helen Mirren to an already impressive roster of talent in front of and behind the camera who have experience with this kind of material, Inkheart may just find itself on my list of fantasy films to watch when it hits theaters. And who knows, if Inkheart turns out to actually be any good, maybe we can finally let Ian Softley off the hook for making us sit through Hackers.

Production on Inkheart is expected to begin next month in Italy. No word yet on a release date.