The New Hobbit Is…?

Posted by on May 29th, 2008 filed in Celebrity

To all of you Lord of the Rings fans, reports are surfacing that the new prequel movie they are working on, The Hobbit, might have found its star.

Said to take the lead role of hobbit Bilbo Baggins is Scottish actor James McAvoy.

The J.R.R. Tolkien novel is hoping to be the next blockbuster big hit and will be directed by Guillermo del Toro.

The film is scheduled to begin filming later this year in New Zealand.

Also returning to the prequel will be Sir Ian McKellen as Gandalf.

In regards to choosing the main lead, an inside source says, “A number of names have been doing the rounds, including Daniel Radcliffe and Jack Black, but James [McAvoy] is the one the film’s bosses really want. They’re expected to have talks soon so hopefully it could be confirmed in the not too distant future.”

As for director del Toro, he adds, “I can tell you it’s down to a few names that we all agree upon. For our first choice, completely magically we all have the same name.”

We’d prefer to have seen Daniel Radcliffe, but we doubt they’d pay him as much as he’d probably ask for.

What do you think about casting James????

[Image via WENN.]