It certainly seems that Brian Cox is having a better career in his 50s and 60s than he ever did in his younger days, having played roles in everything from X-Men 2 and Rushmore to Zodiac and Fantastic Mr Fox. Now it seems he may soon be another another high-profile role to his roster, as one of the dwarves in The Hobbit.
While LOTR’s Gimli, John Rhys-Davis, has seemingly ruled out a return to Middle Earth – apparently because of the make-up and the fact he doesn’t want to be one of 12 dwarves, when he was the only one in earlier trilogy – Brian Cox would seem a good fit, not least because he’s a born Scotsman, which would fit with the accent given to Gimli in the Peter Jackson movies. There’s no news yet on which of the dwarves Cox would play, although Thorin or Balin would make sense.
However at the moment the news is more rumour than fact, as even AICN, which got the scoop, couldn’t confirm whether the makers of the movie have locked down Cox to play one of the dwarves, or is he’s just someone they’re seriously pursuing for a role in the movies.
We’ve been promised some casting news on The Hobbit for months – not least who is going to play Bilbo – but there’s been nothing. At least this suggests Guilermo Del Toro and co. are now seriously looking into who will play which character, so expect more announcements soon.