casting the hobbit now

While casting good-looking chaps and chapesses might be fine for slushy teenage vampire flicks, it seems the world of dwarfs and dragons is a very different kettle of fish. The line-up for Peter Jackson's forthcoming version of The Hobbit is slowly taking shape, with the welcome news last week that Sir Ian McKellen and Andy Serkis will reprise their roles as Gandalf and Gollum respectively. The roles of each of the 13 dwarfs accompanying Bilbo on his merry little quest have finally been filled. But the news that Thorin Oakenshield, the leader of this vertically challenged company, was to be played by an actor with a not-that-appalling appearance, sparked minor fury in the fan ranks. "So far, the biggest controversy among fans with the casting of The Hobbit has to be the casting of Richard Armitage as Thorin," says Pat Dawson, a senior staff member of the Tolkien fansite TheOneRing.net. Armitage, best known for a major role in the BBC spy drama Spooks, is considered by many to be a somewhat handsome gentleman, and certainly not "grim-faced" as Tolkien described his dwarfs. And it's this that is causing the upset. "It would, quite frankly, ruin the movie if the dwarfs are portrayed as anything more or less than what they are: short, strong, muscular, slightly over-weight, bearded and 'grim-faced'," one commenter on the site exclaimed. "Authenticity is very important." There were similar murmurings of disapproval when The Lord of the Rings was in pre-production, when Elijah Wood was cast as Frodo Baggins, but then it was regarding the actor's age rather than his attractiveness. "Many fans thought from the beginning that he was too young to play Frodo," says Dawson, pointing to the fact that in the books he celebrated his 50th birthday shortly before setting out from Hobbiton with his all-powerful piece of jewellery. "While 50 is relatively young for a hobbit, Frodo being played by a 20-something was too much of a stretch."