Last December, I wrote a casting call article, asking blog readers who they would most like to see step into the hairy feet of Bilbo Baggins in an eventual “Hobbit” film. (Which, at the time, was far from a foregone conclusion.)
“James McAvoy,” user dafydd wrote. “You know it makes sense.”
It does. Or, rather, it did, until McAvoy himself shot down growing rumors that he’d play the heroic Ring Bearer in Guillermo Del Toro’s two new films.
“I’m a huge fan of the Tolkien saga, everything to do with Middle-earth,” he reiterated this weekend to MTV News. “But no there’s no truth in the fact that they’ve approached me yet.”
But that won’t stop McAvoy from playing along with our readers. So who would he cast in the role made famous by Ian Holm?
“Ian Holm!” McAvoy proclaimed as if the answer was self-evident. “I don’t know if he’d be able to go back, but he SHOULD do it.”
At question isn’t Holm’s acting ability, of course, but rather his age. The Oscar-nominated thesp will be pushing 80 during filming for the two movies, and there’s the not-so-small matter of actually having to play a younger version of the character at that. Yes, we’re aware that Gandalf tells Bilbo in “Fellowship” that he seems to have not aged a day. And, yes, there are special effects that can make the transition more seamless … but something’s gotta give, right?
In an interview with MTV News in April, Del Toro told us that Holm would “be involved in some manner,” but stopped short of saying he was number one on the wish list.
“[Holm] certainly is the paragon we aspire to. But at his age,” Del Toro continued, “it's too early to tell.”
McAvoy though? He's not buying it.
“[Holm] would be my bet,” he said. “He’s a brilliant actor.”
Just because he denies having been approached, that doens't take him out of the running entirely. So before the sun comes up and we all turn to stone over indecision, let’s have it once and for all: Who do you want to play Bilbo? McAvoy, Holm or someone else? Sound off below.
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