I don’t really think much about the fact that Peter Jackson is out there somewhere in the mythical land of New Zealand making two movies based off of ‘The Hobbit.’ This stems from a callousing of my heart, after years of my heroes following up beloved works with installments in said beloved franchises that stab my gooey blood-pumper and make me frown.

Regardless of my thinking, Jackson is, and now the movies have titles and release dates.

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A couple of months ago James Cameron was blabbering with his babbling lips about the future of movie technology lying in shooting at 48fps. I dismissed Cameron’s blathering because he’s in that rarefied league of blowhards like George Lucas who just gab and spew bullshit. At the time, “shooting in 48fps” translated to “creating 3D that didn’t look like strobing, dark, bullshit.”

But Peter Jackson is now shooting ‘The Hobbit’ with these cameras, so I’m sort of paying attention.

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There’s been casting rumors swirling around Elijah Wood, Sir Frodo himself, returning in The Hobbit. I know, you’re all like, wait, what? Jackson is hell bent on getting the band back together, regardless of whether or not it makes sense. How exactly are they going to inject some Frodo into The Hobbit, when he was never originally there?

Oh shit, framing sequence! A little bookending, to get Wood into the game.

The One Ring elaborates:

As readers of “The Hobbit” know, the tale of “The Downfall of The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit or There and Back Again,” are contained in the fictional “Red Book of Westmarch.” In Peter Jackson’s LOTR films, the book is shown on screen and written in by Bilbo and Frodo and handed off to Sam Gamgee. (Not explained on film are Sam’s progeny later having the book and being Wardens of the Westmarch – hence the book’s title.)

The fictional book, and either the telling from it or the reading of it, will establish Frodo in the films experiencing Bilbo’s story. Viewers are to learn the tale of ‘The Hobbit’ as a familiar Frodo gets the tale as well.

Interesting. I’m going to go ahead and still file this bullshit under shoehorning Frodo into The Hobbit flick. Why? Fan service. Marketability. Jackson’s love for Wood and the character. Still though, the framing sequence as th means to accomplish it? I can get down with that. If we need some Frodo in the flick, I like this approach. Better than him rolling up into some awkward scene.

Thoughts?

Peter Jackson came out and announced the cast of The Hobbit today. I feel like I should be really jazzed, or excited, or something about this. Unfortunately, that something is apathetic. In fact, it took a good two minutes of “Ian, this is shit people care about, you should probably blather about it already!” to get me writing this. I’m not sure why I don’t, and I know I will be excited about the movie once trailers start dropping and the such. But for now? Mehcore. However!, here is the cast list, featuring the official confirmation of Martin Freeman, the dude from the BBC version of the Office as Bilbo.

Slashfilm:

Richard Armitage (MI-5, Captain America) as Thorin Oakenshield, leader of the Dwarves, whose grandfather ruled the Lonely Mountain settlement destroyed by Smaug.

Aidan Turner (Being Human) and Rob Kazinsky (EastEnders) as Kili and Fili, nephews of Thorin.

Graham McTavish (Secretariat) as Dwalin, blue-bearded, first to arrive at the home of Bilbo Baggins.

John Callen as Oin, skillful fire-maker. Brother of Gloin.

Stephen Hunter (All Saints) as Bombur, the fat, sleepy and slow member of Thorin’s company.

Mark Hadlow (King Kong) as Dori, strongest of the Dwarves, who carries Bilbo on his back at one point.

Peter Hambleton (The Strip) as Gloin, brother of Oin, initially suspicious of Bilbo’s worth, but eventually convinced. Father of Gimli from The Lord of the Rings.

Also returning are Sir Ian McKellan as Gandalf, and everyone’s nightmare, Andy Serkis as Gollum. Well there you go! Be excited, b-e excited for me.