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'The Hobbit': Orlando Bloom joins Peter Jackson's increasingly divergent adaptation
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We're starting to get a little bit worried about "The Hobbit." Production is already underway in New Zealand and, really, the movie couldn't be in better hands than that of Peter Jackson, the man who brought the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy to vivid and faithful life on the big screen.But with Friday's (May 27) news that Orlando Bloom has officially joined the cast of "The Hobbit," well, it's time for us to go on record as queasy. Bloom played Legolas in all three "Rings" movies and we don't mind saying he made an awesome elf. But now that his character has been tacked on to "The Hobbit," well, we're starting to worry about the integrity of J.R.R. Tolkien's source material.
Announcing the casting decision on Facebook, Jackson wrote, "Ten years ago, Orlando Bloom created an iconic character with his portrayal of Legolas. I'm excited to announce today that we'll be revisiting Middle Earth with him once more. I'm thrilled to be working with Orlando again."
But, umm, Legolas doesn't appear in Tolkien's "Hobbit" at all. Neither does Cate Blanchett's character, Galadriel, yet there she is on the IMDB page. Elijah Wood, too, is reprising his role as Frodo although it's Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) who anchors this prequel, not Frodo.
So we're wondering if Jackson should officially change the name of the movie to "Peter Jackson's The Hobbit," seeing as how he's taking so much creative license with what is a perfect piece of fiction as is.
What do you think? Is Peter Jackson straying too far from the source material or do we trust him to do a good job?
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Photo/Video credit: New Line Cinema
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I trust you guys to not know what you're talking about.
I think this article is what's commonly referred to as sh!t stirring.
(A different Alex here). I don't see it as sh!t-stirring. It's a legitimate concern. After the almost word-for-word adaptation of LOTR, we've come to expect faithful adaptations of these books. When they said they were splitting The Hobbit into 2 films I said there wasn't enough story to sustain such a thing. If I were a betting man, I'd put my money on Wood, Bloom and the others participating in some sort of framing story, with the main "Hobbit" story being told in flashback.
If we hear news of Ian Holm being cast as "old Bilbo" then that's what's gonna happen.
A framing narrative is an interesting idea -- otherwise how is it going to stretch into two movies.
Maybe this will be a chance to rectify the one (to me) huge omission in the LOTR trilogy films: the absence of the entire "Scouring of the Shire" episode which IMHO was crucial to the conclusion of the story, bringing it all "back home".
You could have wrote "A piece of cardboard joins the Hobbit" and it would have been exactly the same has writing that Orlando Bloom did.
I'm a huge fan of Orlando Bloom. He created one of the most beautiful characters in movie history. LOTR is one the biggest trilogies ever. Why wouldn't Peter Jackson want to pay homage to that?
lets wait and see what will be the outcome of this... then peter jackson will know if he really deserves the right or not...
The king of the elves in The Hobbit is Legolas' father. It would be notable if Legolas wasn't present. Not to mention, if I remember the books' chronology correctly, a late teen, early twenties Aragorn might be living in Rivendell!
My question is, since Saruman takes part in the off-stage action of The Hobbit (namely, storming Dol Guldur, the lair of the Necromancer,) will Christopher Lee be in the movie. Showing that would be a logical way to expand the movie, after all.
I'm pretty sure they've mentioned a lot about bookends to the movie. Seeing Old Bilbo and Frodo at the beginning and end.. I figure the rest of them will show up there..
what did you expect? He changed The Lord of the Rings to justify his inadequasies thus feeding his ego. Did you realy think this would be any different?