There’s a rumor that is about to spread, starting at “My Park Magazine.” That rumor is that James McAvoy, Mr. Tumnus in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, is close to signing to play Bilbo Baggins in Guillermo del Toro’s The Hobbit.
James McAvoy is set to play Bilbo Baggins in ‘The Hobbit‘.
Film bosses are rumoured to be close to signing McAvoy – who played the faun Mr. Tumnus in ‘The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe‘ – to play the fantasy hero in the big screen adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s book.
An insider said: “A number of names have privately been doing the rounds, including Daniel Radcliffe and Jack Black but James is the one the film’s bosses really want. They’re expected to have talks with him soon so hopefully it could be confirmed in the not too distant future.”
Director Guillermo del Toro has refused to comment on the rumours, only saying: “I can tell you it’s down to a few names that we all agree upon. For our first choice we all said the same name, it was completely magical.”
‘The Hobbit‘ is the prequel to the ‘Lord of the Rings‘ trilogy.
In the recent movies directed by Peter Jackson, Baggins was played by Ian Holm.
I’d like to point something out, though. They did not get that quote from del Toro with regards to James McAvoy. In fact, no names have been mentioned yet. Not McAvoy, not Jack Black and most certainly not Radcliffe. Daniel Radcliffe will be too busy filming Harry Potter 7 and 8 for The Hobbit, anyway, I am sure.
No, the quote is from Empire Online, which goes on to say: Obviously the script is yet to be written by Jackson, Del Toro and Philippa Boyens, so there won’t be a name attached to this for some time (despite poking with sticks Del Toro was mum on the identity of the actor, who probably doesn’t know he’s in the frame yet). Del Toro says we can expect “at least a year before we announce any casting”. So, while they have a name in mind, you can count any forthcoming rumours as false, at least until the script is written.