The Hobbit (forthcoming)
"The Hobbit was one of the books that got me into reading.
It really fired up my imagination. That's why I became an actor." [1]
 Richard Armitage stars in Peter Jackson's adaptation of J R R Tolkien's The Hobbit.
In his first major film role, he plays Thorin Oakenshield, leader of the dwarves, warrior, and heir to Erebor, the lost dwarf kingdom that lies under the Lonely Mountain. The Hobbit tells the story of the dwarves' journey with the hobbit Bilbo Baggins to reclaim Erebor, and its treasure, from Smaug the dragon.
Jackson has split the action of Tolkien's 1937 novel into two films, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There And Back Again. They're scheduled for release on 14th December 2012 and 13th December 2013 respectively.
New Zealander Peter Jackson's three part adaptation of The Hobbit's sequel, The Lord of the Rings, which he directed, co-wrote and co-produced, was one of the most successful film projects of recent years. Filmed together, but released separately in 2001, 2002 and 2003, they were both hugely popular and critically acclaimed, winning 17 Oscars from 30 nominations.
But Jackson's attempts to film The Hobbit have been plagued with problems over several years, including the loss of the director Guillermo del Toro, financial difficulties, a labour dispute, and just before filming was about to start in 2011, illness, with Jackson requiring emergency surgery for a perforated ulcer.
Filming eventually began in New Zealand in March 2011, and is expected to continue until mid 2012 at Stone Street Studios in Wellington and on location in New Zealand. The films are being shot in digital 3D at 48 frames per second, twice the normal speed. The intention is to produce the highest quality images currently possible on-screen.
The film stars Martin Freeman (Sherlock, The Office) as Bilbo Baggins, with several actors from The Lord of the Rings returning to reprise their characters, including Ian McKellen as Gandalf, Cate Blanchett as Galadriel, Orlando Bloom as Legolas, Ian Holm as the elder Bilbo, Christopher Lee as Saruman, Hugo Weaving as Elrond, Elijah Wood as Frodo, and Andy Serkis as Gollum. Not all of these characters appear in the novel, but Jackson's screenplay has incorporated them.
 Richard Armitage has said of his role, "The Hobbit was one of the books that got me into reading. It really fired up my imagination. That's why I became an actor." [1]
"I just think it's a really amazing opportunity to take a character from a book that I was brought to as a child. My first experience on stage was in a production of The Hobbit at the Alex Theatre in Birmingham, and I played an elf. And Gollum was a papier-mache puppet with a man offstage on a microphone. It’s been in my childhood very prominently, so to come to it as an adult, a middle-aged man, and have another look at it is a brilliant opportunity." [2]
Speaking after filming had started he said, "When you're standing in front of Gandalf and you have to start delivering your lines, there's a moment where you can't quite believe it." [1]
"There’s going to be quite a lot more humour," he said of the film.
"The book is so focused on the dwarves, so I think it’s a chance for Peter [Jackson] and Fran [Walsh] to really look at that whole race in more detail, their heritage and what they’re like as characters. [Thorin's sword, Orcrist] is bloody heavy! But it’s absolutely beautiful to look at. Every time they bring something new out everyone gasps. The armour that the dwarves emerge from the mountain wearing at the end of the film will be the armour of all armour." [1]
 Peter Jackson has spoken about the casting of the films. "Thorin Oakenshield is a tough, heroic character, and he certainly should give Leggie and Aragorn a run for their money in the heartthrob stakes - despite being four feet tall." [3]
He continued, "In Middle-earth, dwarves are a noble race and have a culture and physical appearance which sets them apart from humans. It’s fun to develop these different cultures for the movie, and we are doing much more with dwarves this time around than we did with Gimli in Lord of the Rings." [3]
"Our company of thirteen dwarves in The Hobbit lets us explore many different personalities - and costume and make-up designs will support the type of character each actor plays. Richard is a powerful actor with a wide range, and we’re very excited to be handing Thorin over to him. In this partnership, we need Richard to give us his depth, range, and emotion as an actor - and we’ll make him look like a dwarf!" [3]
* * *
A teaser trailer for the first film was released in December 2011, and Peter Jackson is posting regular video reports on the filming on his Facebook page (see the Videos page for direct links to the videos).
Further information
The Hobbit official website
The Hobbit official blog
The Hobbit official Facebook page
Peter Jackson's Facebook page, containing photos and video reports of the filming
IMDB pages about The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There And Back Again
Wikipedia articles about The Hobbit (novel), the Peter Jackson film adaptation and the character of Thorin Oakenshield
TheOneRing.net, a major Tolkien fansite, with news and information about the novel, the characters and the film
Tolkien Gateway, a large encyclopedia about the world created by Tolkien in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings
Sir Ian McKellen's blog about the filming of The Hobbit
Sources
[1] Total Film magazine, August 2011
[2] Cast press conference, 11th February 2011
[3] Entertainment Weekly, PopWatch blog, 27th October 2010
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