Don’t be shocked if this rumour gets shot down soon with a loud ‘duh!’, but the interweb is buzzing with rumours that Elijah Wood may return to play Frodo in The Hobbit. Anyone familiar with the book may already see a slight flaw in this, as Wood’s character isn’t even born when Bilbo heads off on his journey.
So where has this rumour come from? Well it’s part of a Deadline report, commenting on the fact that Warner Bros is now paying the complete production costs of the two Hobbit movies and taking worldwide distribution rights, whereas previously MGM was supposed to go halves and take international distribution. That news isn’t surprising, as there’d been previous talk about Warner paying for everything (indeed, before everything went completely tits up at MGM, Warner already had a deal with them that Warner would fund the flicks, with MGM paying them back when they could), and after it’s bankrupcty, MGM has already said it’s doesn’t want to be a distributor anymore.
However Deadline adds, ‘Now, the question will be which cast members from The Lord of the Rings come back for encores. I’ve heard talk of conversations with Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis and possibly Elijah Wood. I’d heard Orlando Bloom was also in talks before the holidays. Returning actors will need to be locked in shortly.’
Except for Wood, all those actors have been mentioned before as possible returnees, along with the likes of Hugo Weaving and Cate Blanchett. However while neither Galadriel or Legolas feature in Tolkien’s Hobbit book, it’s easy to see how Peter Jackson and co. could slot them in. Elijah Wood returning is more problematic, seeing as Frodo’s not even a sperm yet when he novel is set. It’s possible he could play another character, although if the rumour is true, my guess would be that it’s a framing device, helping link The Hobbit with Lord Of The Rings. So an older Bilbo (Ian Holm returning?) would tell Frodo of his journey, with the majority of the film then played out in flashback.
Of course, it could just be Deadline getting it wrong. We’ll have to wait and see!