First Look: The First Official Photos From ‘The Hobbit’ Are Released

First Look: The First Official Photos From ‘The Hobbit’ Are Released
Back in February we got our first unofficial look at the set of The Hobbit, the prequel to The Lord of the Rings trilogy that is currently in production in Miramar, NZ. In March we got to see the first official photos from the set, of director Peter Jackson chillin’ in Bilbo Baggins‘s home. Today, [...]

Back in February we got our first unofficial look at the set of The Hobbit, the prequel to The Lord of the Rings trilogy that is currently in production in Miramar, NZ. In March we got to see the first official photos from the set, of director Peter Jackson chillin’ in Bilbo Baggins‘s home. Today, courtesy of Entertainment Weekly magazine, we get to check out 3 new photos from The Hobbit that feature two of the story’s most important characters … Bilbo Baggins, The Hobbit himself and his wizard friend Gandalf the Grey.

We’ll all have to wait until Dec. 14, 2012, for the full fruits of director Peter Jackson’s labors on his two-part adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Hobbit. But, to tide us over, Jackson has shared the first images from his Lord of the Rings prequels with EW — and talked to us about how the fantasy epic is shaping up so far.

MARTIN FREEMAN (BILBO BAGGINS)
”He fits the ears, and he’s got some very nice feet,” Jackson says of his Bilbo. ”I think he’s got the biggest hobbit feet we’ve had so far. They’re a little bit hard to walk in, but he’s managed to figure out the perfect hobbit gait.”

IAN MCKELLEN (GANDALF)
”He’s in fantastic form,” Peter Jackson says of McKellen. ”In a way, his role in The Hobbit has more technical difficulties than Lord of the Rings did, because he has scenes with 14 smaller characters — obviously the dwarves and the hobbit are shorter… I remember saying to him [laughs], ”Look, this isn’t Waiting for Godot or King Lear. This is The Hobbit. This is the real thing.”

PETER JACKSON with MARTIN FREEMAN
”There’s no way you can pace yourself for shoots like these,” Jackson says. ”When we were going through the schedule for The Hobbit, I felt a terrible drop in my stomach when I saw that we’d be shooting for 254 days. We’re only 12 days short of The Lord of the Rings even though we’re only doing two movies. When I saw that, I had to sort of pick myself up off the floor and carry on.”

Damn … I honestly never really realized how much I’ve missed the Lord of the Rings films. Seeing these photos and reading about The Hobbit production has got me all excited for a return to Middle Earth. I’m also really glad to know that The Hobbit will be turned into 2 films … it feels like that is the new trend in Hollywood these days. The 3D fad has lost its luster so now the new thing to do is to turn books into 2 movies. Altho it feels like kind of a cheap way to make more money from a project, it does afford the director the chance to stay more true to the original source material. 2 movies means more of the source material will make it to screen. This is a great first look at The Hobbit. I can’t wait to see more ;)

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