After being down on the idea of revisiting the Lord of the Rings universe, those first official images that popped up last week certainly reinvigorated my interest. I grew up on Peter Jackson‘s trilogy, seeing each one opening day, and although I’ve got older and my desire waned, I’m still looking forward to these prequels. Empire (via First Showing) gives us a new look, from the cover of their next issue, at Martin Freeman as our lead character Bilbo Baggins, and Ian McKellan as Gandalf.
They described McKellan’s character as a “resplendent ‘younger’ Gandalf the Grey” and “to look closely for subtle differences in costume from his 60-year older Rings self.” As they visited the set just about a month into production, they saw “thirteen cantankerous dwarves, one barely tolerant wizard, and a befuddled hobbit arriving at the gates of Rivendell and sneered at by local elves.” Check out the cover below.
Synopsis:
“The Hobbit” follows the journey of title character Bilbo Baggins, who is swept into an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor, which was long ago conquered by the dragon Smaug. Approached out of the blue by the wizard Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo finds himself joining a company of thirteen dwarves led by the legendary warrior, Thorin Oakensheild. Their journey will take them into the Wild; through treacherous lands swarming with Goblins and Orcs, deadly Wargs and Giant Spiders, Shapeshifters and Sorcerers.
Although their goal lies to the East and the wastelands of the Lonely Mountain first they must escape the goblin tunnels, where Bilbo meets the creature that will change his life forever… Gollum.
Here, alone with Gollum, on the shores of an underground lake, the unassuming Bilbo Baggins not only discovers depths of guile and courage that surprise even him, he also gains possession of Gollum’s “precious” ring that holds unexpected and useful qualities… A simple, gold ring that is tied to the fate of all Middle-earth in ways Bilbo cannot begin to know.
The massive cast includes Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Elijah Wood, Andy Serkis, Richard Armitage, Jed Brophy, Adam Brown, John Callen, Stephen Fry, Ryan Gage, Mark Hadlow, Peter Hambleton, Stephen Hunter, William Kircher, Sylvester McCoy, Bret McKenzie, Graham McTavish, Mike Mizrahi, James Nesbitt, Dean O’Gorman, Lee Pace, Mikael Persbrandt, Conan Stevens, Ken Stott, Jeffrey Thomas, Aidan Turner, Luke Evans, Benedict Cumberbatch, Evangeline Lilly, and Barry Humphries.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey opens on December 14th, 2012, and The Hobbit: There and Back Again will be released on December 13th, 2013.
What do you think of this new look?