Lot of interest around the upcoming adaptation of The Hobbit today. After Jackson got the greenlight casting, news has come thick and fast, now Ian McKellen is definitely confirmed, he posted this on his website and Ron Perlman told ComingSoon.net that he will not be participating.
When Guillermo del Toro was in the director’s chair, he spoke of casting Ron Perlman in a role and had an idea in mind for a part. Now with Del Toro abandoning the project and leaving the status of the film unknown for a long time, Perlman has gone to make other plans. Rumours suggest that Perlman with work with Del Toro on the adaptation of At the Mountains of Madness.
Also recently, there have been reports that the casting of the film has become racist and now the casting director has been fired from the film. For one asking for “light skinned” extras and for also refusing a Pakistani a role based their skin colour. Jackson’s statement claims that his production label were not aware of this and the casting director did this of their own accord.
It’s completely understandable, actors shouldn’t be refused work on films based on skin colour and it’s good to see Jackson standing up for this. The Hobbit expects to start shooting in February 2011.
