Peter Jackson has revealed to Heat Vision that casting for The Hobbit starts this week, with wide auditions expected for each part except Gandalf, who will be played again by Ian McKellen.

"We're auditioning for every role," Jackson said. "Apart from Ian McKellen, who we obviously want to return as Gandalf, we are not really offering any roles to anybody until we've done a casting sweep."

He added that they are not necessarily looking for big stars. "(These movies) have never been a star-driven vehicle. The star is (author J.R.R.) Tolkien and the world he created. We are not under any pressure. We want to find the right people. Casting someone to portray a hobbit is not as easy as you might imagine. They have to have a particular type of physical appearance and a sensibility. And the same with an elf or a dwarf. These are fantastical characters, but you've got to find the right people to play them, the right humans to translate these characters."

Jackson also debunked the rumor that production was delayed, saying the they were always planning to start shooting around April or May of 2010.

Tres impatient, par contre il me semble qu'il vont faire 2 films c'est ca ? pour un bouquin qui fais 300 pages c'est bizarre, enfin on va pas se plaindre

Tu m'étonne la, car la 1er version sortie en Fr (et la plus répandu) est la version refaite après SDN

"Gandalf, being a 2,000-year-old wizard, is still around and plays a major role in 'The Hobbit,' and we're having Ian McKellen reprise," explained the filmmaker, who is executive-producing the flick and writing the screenplay. "There's a couple of other characters: Elrond, who was played by Hugo Weaving [in the original films], and there's a possibility of Galadriel, who was played by Cate Blanchett."

En passant j'espere qu'il feront le Silmarillon histoire de boucler la boucle

Je veux voir du dragon dans le volcan et du Nain qui court partout

Casting is scheduled to begin next week, December 14, 2009, on the upcoming MGM Studios feature film “The Hobbit” Part 1. The project is now being developed as two films, and principal photography is tentatively scheduled to begin in New Zealand around May or June 2011. Please submit photos and resume by mail only. No phone calls or personal drop-offs.”

We've just delivered the script. Literally last week, we delivered the second of the two screenplays -- the first draft. So the studio's got both scripts now, which is a milestone; and if anything was holding it up, it was us doing the screenplays, because we'd just been writing as fast as we can, but it took us this long to get them finished. So we take whatever responsibility there is for the speed. And we're now in the process of budgeting the films, and then hopefully we'll get to a budget the studio [people] are happy with, and they'll greenlight the movies and we'll announce the shooting dates. I'd be pretty optimistic that we'll be shooting before the end of the year. I would imagine October, November, we'd be shooting by. I'm not announcing it, though.

Suite au problème financier de la MGM, après James Bond 23, c'est au tour des deux The Hobbit de passer en stand-by.
Le feu vert est passé au rouge

En raison de sa dette abyssale, la Metro Goldwyn Mayer a été obligée de suspendre pour une durée indéterminée le tournage du dernier épisode de James Bond. Ce fleuron d’Hollywood, qui revendique le plus grand catalogue de films au monde avec 4.000 titres, espère intéresser un repreneur.
Le célèbre lion a perdu de sa superbe. Il pourrait même cesser de rugir une fois pour toutes. Car depuis quelques mois, MGM est au bord de la faillite, avec une dette de 3.7 milliards de dollars (2.7 milliards d’euros). En cause, la chute des ventes de DVD et l’absence de succès au box-office.

Le mois dernier, les studios se sont donc proposés à la vente. Plusieurs candidats se sont fait connaître, mais aucune offre n’a abouti. Conséquence : le tournage du 23ème épisode de sa série phare, James Bond, a été suspendu. "Nous ne savons pas quand le tournage reprendra" ont annoncé les producteurs du film, "et nous n’avons pas de date pour la sortie de Bond 23", le titre provisoire de ce nouvel opus, où l’espion 007 est incarné une nouvelle fois par Daniel Craig. Le film devait sortir en 2011 ou 2012.