by J.R.R. Tolkien are in full swing, and I am throwing myself into the fray. Bilbo Baggins, played by Ian Holm in the Lord of the Rings
trilogy, is much, much younger in this story. This should go to a big name actor, because this man is the star of the show. I saw James McAvoy tossed around on fan forums for awhile, and while the noise about him has died down, I like this choice. He's good and pretty underrated. 
Thorin is the dwarf that does most of the talking and interacting with Bilbo. There are 12 dwarfs in this story, and casting all of them would be 1) annoying and 2) unnecessary. There are not a lot of little people in this world, particularly those that are actors, so trying to assign a name to each character would take too much time, and since probably 10 would have no lines or be cut from the story altogether, it's a pointless effort. Thorin is our main guy, and I think Warwick Davis should play him. Yes, I know that he's a very, very busy man. But he's good. There's a reason some actors are in demand: they are worth it.
Smaug is the dragon that is hoarding all the treasure that our adventurers are after. I think they are going to go the CGI route and use just a voice. A voice of evil. Malignancy. Tim Curry is the best man for the job. (did you see FernGully?)
Bard is the man-hero at the end. He gets appointed to be their king and leader after defeating Smaug with his trusty arrows. I want to see Jeremy Piven just because I want to see him in way more stuff.
Do you want to see Andy Serkis (Gollum), Ian McKellen (Gandalf) and Hugo Weaving (Elrond) reprise their roles? Or should they go to "younger" players?
Agree? Disagree? Post your thoughts in the comments.
Images: Google Images
