Fans of "The Hobbit" have waited with baited breath to see if the long-anticipated, seemingly troubled-from-the-get-go production would get off the ground, particularly after director Guillermo del Toro dropped out of the project last May.
Since then, Peter Jackson has stepped in, but Wednesday night the film had another setback as the Oscar-winning director underwent surgery for a perforated ulcer, according to a statement from production.
Filming was expected to start sometime next month, but will be delayed as Jackson, who was admitted to New Zealand's Wellington Hospital after experiencing acute stomach pains, heals from the surgery. According to Entertainment Weekly, a New Line Cinema rep confirmed that the director "is resting comfortably and doctors expect a full recovery."
The statement from production also assured that Jackson's "surgery is not expected to impact on his directing commitment to 'The Hobbit' beyond a slight delay to the start of filming."
Just how "slight" the delay ends up being remains to be seen. The two parts of Jackson's "Hobbit" will feature many actors reprising their roles from the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, including Sir Ian McKellen, Cate Blanchett and Elijah Wood (not to mention that rumored $1 million, two-minute cameo by Orlando Bloom.)
Parts 1 and 2 of "The Hobbit" are slated for December 2012 and December 2013 releases, respectively.
Do you think "The Hobbit" will continue to face setbacks throughout filming or will it be smooth sailing after Jackson's recovery?
We're closer and closer to a return trip to Middle-Earth every day, and it actually appears that "
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Jamie Foxx Bringing Back Wanda Is Nothing New: Here Are Five Other Cross-Dressing Oscar Winners
Posted 11/10/09 3:00 pm EST by Christopher Campbell in Commentary, Photos
Yesterday, I saw a lot of people calling for Jamie Foxx's Oscar to be revoked following the announcement that he and Martin Lawrence are confirmed for "Sheneneh and Wanda," a comedy in which the duo will play female bank robbers. Both roles are based on earlier cross-dressed characters from the actors' TV days (Lawrence's Sheneneh is from "Martin" and Foxx's Wanda is from "In Living Color"). Foxx, who won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 2004 for "Ray" (he was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor that same year for "Collateral), returning to this drag shtick seems like a huge step backward to a lot of people.
"Seems" is the key word here, though, because it doesn't have to be a regression. Plenty of Oscar-caliber actors have cross-dressed before and since being nominated and/or winning an Academy Award, and plenty of performers have won for dressing like the opposite sex. I've selected a few standouts of the bunch below. Click the image at the top of the post to be whisked off to our Cross-Dressing Oscar Winners flipbook gallery. Read More...
Tags cate blanchett, Dustin Hoffman, gwyneth paltrow, Jamie Foxx, Michael Caine, Photo, tom hanks