But just before we met, he’d auditioned for the role of Bilbo Baggins in Guillermo del Toro’s two-part film of The Hobbit. As he is the first to admit, he’s not an obvious choice – ‘Look at the size of me for Christ’s sake!’ If he got the part, he would, he says, find it almost impossible to refuse – despite the fact that it would involve him spending several months in New Zealand.

We are still waiting for official confirmation, but this indicates that at least the work is in progress for The Hobbit

“We’ve decided to have The Hobbit span the two movies, including the White Council and the comings and goings of Gandalf to Dol Guldur,” says Del Toro.

“We decided it would be a mistake to try to cram everything into one movie,” adds Jackson. “The essential brief was to do The Hobbit, and it allows us to make The Hobbit in a little more style, if you like, of the [LOTR] trilogy.”

Now we can begin to speculate where the cut is going to be =)

Thanks EM!

According to the Empire’s online description:

January is, statistically speaking, the most miserable of months. It’s cold, it’s dark, and Moira Stuart is forever banging on about paying your tax bill by the 31st, or Mr. Taxman will be round to cut off a pound, or three, of flesh. So here at Empire, we feel it’s our duty to cheer you up – and what better way than by presenting to you our brand new issue, which should be hitting newsagent and supermarket shelves near you any… second… now. Inside, you’ll find all kinds of cheery tonics, such as our horror overload, featuring Bruce Campbell, Freddy and Jason, the Wolfman’s Emily Blunt, and the Lesbian Vampire Killers, and our lovely look at the individuals who make up the Watchmen. But pride of place – on our cover and in our hearts – is our big special on The Hobbit. What’s that, you say? It’s not even out for two years? Well, yes, but inside our special feature, you’ll find a one-stop shop of information on the films that may be the most anticipated of the next few years.

Thanks TOR!

“I’m having supper with [director] Guillermo del Toro this evening, so you’re asking me twelve hours too early.”.

Also he already confirm that he will be in The Hobbit.

What do you do when your geek base demands a prequel to one of their biggest fantasy trilogies, and that it be done right? You hire Guillermo bleepin’ del Toro to get around to it, as soon as he’s done with eighteen other projects. Two things are sure: he’ll find a place for Doug Jones, which is always welcome, and the thing can’t help but end less times than Return of the King did. — WG

Vic & Raewyn James from Red Carpet Tours, send this along: Red Carpet Tours is pleased to announce that it has opened a register for LOTR fans wanting to tour at the time of the New Zealand Premiere of “The Hobbit”. We are ‘guesstimating’ that this will probably happen in December, 2011. For the Premiere of “The Return of the King” in December, 2003, 160 fans toured with Red Carpet. If you wish to add your name to ‘The Hobbit Tour 2011’ register, you can email Vic James directly. Meanwhile, Red Carpet Tours’ monthly 12 day LOTR tours continue. The New Zealand dollar is currently @ 57 cents against the U.S. dollar, which makes this a great time to visit Middle Earth!

What are you waiting for? The Hobbit is just some dollars away, just save your money to 2011, and you’ll be ready for it. Go register, and then you tell us.

Thanks TheOneRing!

Earlier this year, it was announced Guillermo del Toro would direct the new film, based on JRR Tolkien’s novel.

Lord of the Rings Oscar winner Peter Jackson is producing the project, and he and del Toro will pen the screenplay.

Sir Ian McKellen has already signed on to reprise his role of Gandalf, and Andy Serkis is expected to play Gollum once again.

Shooting was scheduled to start in New Zealand this winter (08/09), but it has now been postponed until 2010 – with the release day pushed back to 2012.

We are awaiting confirmation of New Line Cinema.

Source: IndiaTimes

Update: TheOneRing have received confirmation from the source of all sources, Guillermo del Toro himself stating that this rumor is NOT TRUE.

Q:Universal announced a pretty busy slate for you after “The Hobbit.” Will we see a Hellboy 3?
A:If its up to me- yes!! But it is a corporate decision and regimes change very rapidly at these studios.

Q:There any professionals who worked with you on Hellboy II that will be joining you on the Hobbit?
A:Hopefully Mignola, Barlowe, Spectral Motion, Guillermo Navarro and others…

Q:Will you be using Danny Elfman as a composer again on future projects?
A:Absolutely, but not until after the HOBBIT films.

Q:Do you think filming Hellboy II helped prepare you for filming the Hobbit?
A:Technically, yes- but that’s not the challenge in THE HOBBIT. The challenge is to create and expand a massive universe and be as immersive as the Trilogy was. To approach Tolkien’s book with the right mixture of reverence, enthusiasm and invention.

Q:WILL THERE BE ANY COOL CREATURES IN HOBBIT LIKE HELLBOY2?
A:many many more and we will be pushing the goblin kindgom. we will be pushing smaug, the spiders of mirkwood. we will be pushing them to the edge of technology where we will fuse animatronics and cgi into a seamless new art form in creating creatures, i think.

Q:Do you plan to use any particular effects or techniques in the Hobbit that were used in Hellboy II?
A:Well, yes, but used in a different way. You will see some mind-boggling mixture of CGI / Puppetry like never before. The demarcation of where one technique ends and the other begins will NOT be as clean as in HBII or BLADE II or PAN’S LABYRINTH. I am going to push further than ever on both fronts.

Q:WHEN DOES FILMING FOR THE HOBBIT BEGIN?
A:it will begin in 2010 and we will shoot for about 370 days or so…

Q:At what age did you first read The Hobbit?
A:I believe it was between 10 years old and 11 years old. My first copy of it is dated as printed in 1973 and I know I bought it shortly after being published by a great publishing house called MINOTAURO which was (in my childhood years) like the CRITERION COLLECTION of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror.

Q:How long did it take to create the script for this movie?
A:For the record- neither Peter Jackson nor I had the faintest contact about the HOBBIT movies prior to the absolute completion of HELLBOY II. I got Peter’s first call in December 2007- way after we wrapped the film. So, the visuals in the HOBBIT movie are not anticipated in the HBII movie.

Q:Will you be working with Guillermo Navarro on The Hobbit?
A:I hope so!!

Q:Does Mike Mignola have any involvement with you on The Hobbit?
A:I hope and pray he joins us at the design stage for a week or two.

Q:Who are your top choices to play Bilbo Baggins in the upcoming Hobbit Movies?
A:Hopefully, very soon we can reveal that-

“The secondary film would bridge the gap between ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘Lord of the Rings’ chronologically,” Wood said, “so conceivably, it could be possible.”

Since the films are still being written, “it’s a ways away” before he would know, Wood said, but the trick is to have Frodo’s appearance not seem like an anachronism, since he wasn’t a part of “The Hobbit” adventure.

“That’s the thing,” Wood said. “I would imagine that if he does exist, it’ll make some sort of sense. Otherwise, I don’t think they would do it. I certainly wouldn’t want to do it. I don’t want to have a whole character piece that doesn’t really exist that they’re cobbling together.”

But he has faith in the filmmakers “in whatever they’re going to do in terms of bringing in any familiar characters back, just knowing their sense of upholding integrity.”

To MTV, it seems like the only logical thing would be to introduce Frodo at the very end. Once Bilbo has returned from his adventure, with all his riches, he becomes the most able relative in Frodo’s family to adopt him after his parents Drogo and Primula die in a boating accident on the Brandywine River. Wood agreed.

“Yeah, potentially,” he said. “There’s a lot we know historically about the characters where that would make sense. And personally, if I was involved, it would be to come on for a tiny little piece and have that be that.”