His character Denethor doesn’t make an appearance in The Hobbit but Del Toro has hinted the second movie could feature the story of Aragorn and so Denethor the Steward of Gondor would feature prominently.

John told MTV Movies:

“If they said, ‘Would you come and play Denethor again,’ I would have to say, ‘No, I’m doing [new J.J. Abrams television series] ‘Fringe’! And I certainly couldn’t play a younger Denethor or even Echelion now that I’m an older John. Not even with makeup.”

“I do wish them the best of luck, however. There’s tremendous fan interest in ‘The Hobbit.’ But ‘Lord of the Rings’ was so special, you could tell even when you were working on it, that it was just so good, and sometimes, you just want to leave that in a special place somehow.”

That “special place” may well hold back yet more cast from making a return to Middle Earth and could end up being a major challenge for Del Toro although it’s going to be a major help having Peter Jackson in his corner.

The official press release states that Jackson and Del Toro got so deeply involved in The Hobbit that they couldn’t bare the thought of handing it over to someone else.

It was originally thought that Jackson’s schedule was far too tight to allow him to get too involved but apparently gaps have been found.

I suspect though that Jackson has had second thoughts and decided he has to be involved in the writing. He promised the money men 2 Hobbit movies in return for their settling his long running “monies owed” claim. Problem is though, there is only one Hobbit book.

Del Toro stated soon after being signed up to direct that:

“We believe there is a second movie. If there isn’t, there will not be. If we find it, we will shoot it, but by God, if we do not find it, we will not shoot it. I am anxious to shoot the book, and I’m willing and able to dedicate myself to shooting the second film.”

It’s a valid point and one that may well have been raised by outside writers.

Filling the Hobbit out to make two movies is a completely different proposition to the trimming and cutting down they had to do for The Lord Of The Rings. Even when we assume much of the work will come from Tolkiens notes to fill in the gap between the end of The Hobbit and the start of The Fellowship Of The Ring, they are still only notes at the end of the day.

I have a feeling today’s announcement comes after Jackson has had time to mull over the story. He may well feel that if this is to be pulled off, he is the only one qualified to do it and who could argue?

After all, he does have the qualifictions….. He’s been there and now he’s going back again. I just hope the trip is as memorable as the one he made a decade ago.

“You have to be very careful not to rely on a single tool – and this is another thing that I share a passion for with Peter Jackson. We both are huge fans of ‘old-world’ techniques like maquettes, models, miniatures, paintings – and in the case of The Hobbit, I do intend to continue this trend and bring much more animatronics into the mix,” Del Toro told IGN.

“We need to keep that art form alive, because it brings a textural power to the movie that ultimately affects the content. The creatures somehow seem more tactile and more tangible than CG.”

IGN were obviously keen to find out what he had planned for Gollum following the above statement but he was happy to confirm Gollum would be back in glorious CG as he was in The lord Of The Rings.

“I think that it worked perfectly on the Lord of the Rings trilogy and if it ain’t broke, why fix it?”

Exactly, well said that man! I could just imagine the uproar if we didn’t get the same Gollum. It’s not like they could argue the guy who does the computer graphics is too old for the part now

Despite a huge fan base from the original Hellboy movie and the news that Del Toro would next be doing The Hobbit movie now becoming common knowledge, Hellboy 2 has been dissapointing the money men at the box office. Coming in second to the White Bishop (or is it Dark Knight?) was probably expected but it also trailed Journey To The Center Of The Earth and Step Brothers which I doubt was expected.

Del Toro though is already thinking ahead to The Hobbit. This morning he has a piece in The Times On Sunday primarily to promote the release of Hellboy 2 on the 20th August in the UK but the subject of The Hobbit movie soon comes up and he tells The Times he cannot serve up a Peter Jackson film.

“I’m trying to be faithful to what I read when I was young. That’s The Hobbit I’m serving. I cannot serve a Peter Jackson film. We also hope to bridge the trilogy. We will create an expansion of what lies in the four books and in a number of appendices. I’m not going to New Zealand for two years to do one movie. I’m going there for four years.”

The Times went on to ask whether he will make room in The Hobbit Movies for the kind of evocative symbolism he’s known for in all his other movies and he replies, “Of course I will…It’s a proclivity, a compulsion.”

“That’s what I love about fairytales; they tell the truth, not organised politics, religion or economics. Those things destroy the soul,” Del Toro says. “That is the idea from Pan’s Labyrinth and it surfaces in Hellboy and, to some degree, in all my films. I don’t think it’s a conscious decision, it’s a proclivity, a compulsion.”

Not that we really needed it but Empire mag. is today announcing it is confirmed Sir Ian McKellen will reprise the role of Gandalf for The Hobbit movies.

They caught up with the actor at a special screening of The Dark Knight in London and as usual the legend had quite a bit to say about The hobbit.

“Well, I haven’t had the contract yet but it’s everyone’s intention that I play Gandalf so yes, I will be returning to the role. Although it’s not until 2010, I’m very much excited about returning.”

The good folk at Empire went on to ask Sir Ian how he felt about Del Toro taking the helm as replacement for Peter Jackson….

“Well, if you’re not going to have Peter Jackson, who else can handle the job? To get an international film-maker of his standing who adores the original trilogy, well I don’t think you could possibly find a better replacement. I think the look will be very much as it was, Weta is still involved, it’s still the same workshops, the same designers, I’ll be there, Andy Serkis will be there and Peter Jackson will still be around - not that he’ll interfere too much - so it’ll seem like the old family is getting back together again.”

Source…Empire

He would like to get the part of the voice of Smaug though. He talks about this and other things Middle Earth in this very enlightening video. Lee is one of the most knowledgable men alive on the subject of Middle Earth and was the only person involved in The Lord Of The Rings who actually new JRR Tolkien.

Way back in September I reported the coastal home of Tolkien had been purchased by a local property developer who planned to demolish it and build 2 four bedroom homes on the land.

Well despite a few complaints, permission was granted so the developer (a Mr. Malton) was removing the fireplace (which he planned to sell) prior to the bulldozers moving in and came across a postcard hidden behind it which was addressed to JRR Tolkien.

It was signed Lin and is believed to be from American fantasy author Linwood Vrooman Carter who went by the pen name of Lin Carter. Linwood wrote “A Look Behind the Lord of the Rings” published in 1969. The dates tie in as it has a 1968 post office stamp on it and he would have been researching his book during that year.

He had already found a bronze fairy and a stone gryphon buried in the undergrowth and plans to sell these together with the post card and the fireplace at auction.

Mr Malton, who owns ProDem Demolition apparently missed the irony by saying :

“To find something with the Tolkien name on it is quite amazing”

as he waved in the bulldozers to knock down the former home of the Tolkien family.

“There’s been lots of speculation. I wouldn’t want to ruin anything. Guillermo creates things with me in mind and he’s got a better image of what I can do than I do,” he told MTV news. “However, there might be an elf king, father of Legolas kind of character that I would love.”

As a further hint Del Toro Joked in an interview on the 25th June at the 34th Annual Saturn Awards that he would find a part for his favorite actor Doug Jones in The Hobbit as long as it was a “very hard role with long hours.”

Doug had the lead role as Abe Sapian in Del Toro’s Hellboy and Hellboy 2 as well as Pale Man in Pans Labyrinth so its fair to assume its pretty much a done deal that a part will be found for him.

“Guillermo definitely needs to make ‘The Hobbit,’ and he needs to make it right. So I want him to take his time on that,” Jones said. “But I also want him to bring me in on it. Are you listening Guillermo?”

I’m hoping this layout will make it easer for people to find the story they are after but I’m still tweaking it over the weekend so if things go a little wobbly as you navigate around, please do not adjust your set.

The tabs in this section (just above) let you flick through each category to see what, if anything is happening in the various catergories. If you scroll down a little, you will see where the 2 main categories over the next year or so will be. These will cover casting and news and gossip surrounding the making of The Hobbit movies.

“It’s not true by the way, it’s all internet rumoring and nothing else I’m afraid, Sorry.”

Well we kind of new that already Jimmy, its just that usually someone stamps out the rumor fairly quickly, unless there is something to the rumor of course.

It could just be that Del Toro and Co. haven’t asked him yet. When asked recently about the Bilbo/McAvoy rumor Del Toro said that no final decision would be made until around December and he hoped to announce who has the part as a Christmas present to Middle Earth fans.

In other news, ReelzChannel is reporting the date of October 19th 2009 has been set for a jury trial to decide if Christopher Tolkien has the right to prevent the making of the Hobbit movie because of money still owed to the Tolkien Trust from the LOTR movies.

He also hopes to prevent the use of The Silmarillion (which he put together) as the material source for the second Hobbit movie.