‘The Hobbit’ Filming Begins Today!

Source: 'The Hobbit' on Facebook

Today is the day Tolkien fans! At the crack of New Zealand’s dawn, where it is already March 21st, cameras will begin rolling on ‘The Hobbit’ films—provided everything is still on schedule. Over the last month we’ve watched with fingers crossed as the shooting date was pushed back from February of 2011 to March 2011 to accommodate for Sir Peter Jackson’s surgery and recovery. Meanwhile shooting locations where chosen and the cast began their rigorous training with horseback riding, weaponry and the all-important dwarf camp. Over all, a very busy time, and now it seems the news has become quiet. Almost like the calm before a storm. There are still many questions left unanswered. Has David Tennant been cast for the roll of Elf-King Thranduil? Will Orlando Bloom ever admit he’ll play a small part in the film? And what of this IMDb rumor that “retired” Leonard Nimoy will be the voice of Smaug the dragon?

I can’t help my feelings of excitement, knowing that at this very moment, the cast has donned their beards and are in front of the cameras. The only catch is, it’s going to take a year and nine months until December 2012 arrives and I can finally see the fruits of their labor.

So here’s a “good luck” wave from middleEarthnews to everyone working on ‘The Hobbit’: “Utúlie ‘n aurë!” - “The day has come!”

Sources: Blastr, TheOneRing.net, IMDb, CBSNews

Saoirse Unconfirmed for ‘The Hobbit’

Source: VanityFair.com

Since the highly viewed press release of The Hobbit cast aired last week, new rumors and news on the film have hit the web, the top story centering on Saoirse Ronan. During an interview back in January, casting director Ros Hubbard stated to IFTN, “...working with Peter Jackson is like working with a family... Saoirse’s family will go too, everyone is very close and very loving on those sorts of jobs.” Within moments of the articles posting, the word had gone out that Saoirse  had indeed signed on to The Hobbit, to play the woodland elf ‘Itaril’. However, when she was asked about Hubbard’s statement, during this weeks IFTN awards, she responded, "No, nothing has actually been confirmed yet. I’d love to get a role in The Hobbit. I think everybody in the world would like a role in The Hobbit.” It seems we’ll have to wait for further confirmation to dub this

rumor ‘true’.

Sources: www.iftn.ie, http://www.irishcentral.com/