A Bell of a Baggins?

I am a Hobbit. Well, maybe. Oh yes, its true I may indeed be a real life Mary Tyler Moore-annoying zippy outlook and a mouth full of big teeth to boot, but if you were to equate yourself with any book/film character, I always fancied myself to be a Rosie Cotton Hobbity person (sans the hairy feet of course lol). I love the Tolkien series, and I remember just adoring J.R.R Tolkien's The Hobbit when I first read it years and years ago as a youngster. Sure I read and adored things like A Little Princess and The Secret Garden and Nancy Drew/Five mysteries etc, that whole world Tolkien created always stuck with me. Like so so so many others I also adored the Lord of the Rings film trilogy and have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of the film The Hobbit, which is joyfully now coming to reality at long last.

Now, following a recent webchat with director Guillermo Del Toro and director/producer Peter Jackson, speculation has ramped up several notches regarding who will play the key role in the"The Hobbit." Often discussed in the past, I was wondering how long it would be till more talk surfaced again casting Jamie Bell as the young Bilbo Baggins. Today both Cinematical and Awards Daily weighed in on this mentioning Jamie in the pieces, but both saying too they preferred others for the role.

Hmmm. Having spent many years (pre-Jackson) lurking in the Tolkien sites and fandom, Jamie as Bilbo has been bandied about for many years to be certain, and I think if it were to happen, may not be universally favored but on the whole I think would probably go over pretty well. However if I were to bet on this actually happening, I would not take that for I am thinking this is not who they will go for. Empire reported today too, that while the script is not yet done,a nd production on the films is not set to begin until 2010, that they've all agreed on the first choice of the actor for the part, and we should hear more about that in the coming days. Quotage:

As part of an exclusive chat with Del Toro for the next issue of Empire, on sale Friday, we spoke to him further about many details, including the casting of Bilbo.

"We are writing based on [Ian Holm's performance], but other than that, we have ideas [of who could play him]," Del Toro told us. "I can tell you that it's down to a few names that we all agree upon. And that our first choice...completely, magically, we said the same name. All of us!" Obviously the script is yet to be written by Jackson, Del Toro and Philippa Boyens, so there won't be a name attached to this for some time (despite poking with sticks Del Toro was mum on the identity of the actor, who probably doesn't know he's in the frame yet). Del Toro says we can expect "at least a year before we announce any casting". So, while they have a name in mind, you can count any forthcoming rumours as false, at least until the script is written.

Me personally, I do NOT think Jamie is the one they are going to mention, (and please please NOT Mcavoy-god no-hes good but he's already a Narnia fixture)

Now I think Jamie could certainly pull this off, and there are certainly many things he could bring to the part. Make up aside, he could pull off looking like a slightly different version of Elijah Woods' Frodo and a younger Ian Holm, and he certainly has the acting skill I think to hold his own with McKellan. Hes worked with PJ and Andy Serkis in the past of course too which would be a plus and Del Toro surely would seem like a director Jamie might like to work with.

Some might argue no this is too commercial too popular too iconic a thing for an Indie minded actor like Jamie to want to take on, and that does have some merit. On the other hand, these films are beloved world wide. There is no indication that these (The Hobbit and the Transition movie) will not live up to the standards achieved in the Trilogy already, but that temptation to want to be part of something that could concievably become an even larger, more successful and a film that becomes to entrenched in world wide culture for the future, surely must be appealing. Again, I dont believe that JB is who they have in mind for the part, but its fun to speculate on for sure.

Bonus video: The Lord of the Rings Super Trailer, where you can relive that amazing series that follows the Hobbit storyline.