Toby McGuire as Bilbo?!!!

[wayfriend]

IIRC: At the Long Expected Party, Bilbo was eleventy-one, and Frodo was coming of age at 33 - they had a shared birthday. However, it was 17 years before Frodo left the Shire and headed to Bree: he was 50.

In the movie, there's no indication that so much time went by between Party and departure. Maybe a few months.

So, IMO, Wood was a good age for a hobbit coming of age; he didn;t have to be substantially older when he had to leave, so it works out.

However, in the movie, Frodo never used the ring during that interval. So you can't claim that he was preserved.

[dANdeLION]

However, in the movie, Frodo never used the ring during that interval. So you can't claim that he was preserved.

I wasn't sure that the ring had to be used for that effect. I assumed it only had to be possessed. But I guess it makes more sense that it would at least need to be in contact with the bearer for it to preserve him.

[Worm of Despite]

I'd rather see Will Smith as Bilbo than Toby McGuire. McGuire has his place, and it's in Pleasantville and Wonderboys. Right now he's really type-cast and struggling after Spider-Man 3. I think he'd weigh the production down. We need unknowns, which was what made LOTR's casting so genius.

Jesse Eisenburg would be my number one choice. I think he is a smart, luminous young talent, and he would be damn near perfect.

He looks way too much like Michael Cera. It'd distract me to hell and back.

As for Bilbo's appearance--they always make them look young and attractive. We only had one authentically fat hobbit (Sean Astin's Sam). So I won't be surprised if Bilbo is either a young adult or in his 30s. Age 50 (Bilbo's age in The Hobbit) is probably like the 30s in adult years, methinks.

[The Dreaming]

IIRC: At the Long Expected Party, Bilbo was eleventy-one, and Frodo was coming of age at 33 - they had a shared birthday. However, it was 17 years before Frodo left the Shire and headed to Bree: he was 50.

In the movie, there's no indication that so much time went by between Party and departure. Maybe a few months.

So, IMO, Wood was a good age for a hobbit coming of age; he didn't have to be substantially older when he had to leave, so it works out.

However, in the movie, Frodo never used the ring during that interval. So you can't claim that he was preserved.

Yeah, mere possession of the ring had those effects, not actual use. Bilbo hardly used in after the events of The Hobbit himself, and he was supposed to look practically unaged at his 111th birthday. Gandalf actually spends quite a long time expositing* about the nature of the Ring to Frodo after his return to the shire... some 16 years after the birthday party. Yeah, they definitely glossed over the time gap, but I don't blame them. It just isn't very cinematic to pop 16 years into the beginning of your narrative, especially how they were playing up the Jack Bouresque urgency of the quest.

I stand by Eisenberg. Having just seen Adventureland, he reminds me a lot of a young Woody Allen. He seems a lot more mature and intellectual to me than Cera, who is just nerdy and off key. I think he may have more potential, he seems like the smarter actor to me. While Cera is a pretty funny dude, I would hardly describe his acting as "nuanced". Eisenburg seems capable of real subtlety.



The more I look at it the more right it seems to me.

*I am aware I just made this word up. The thing I love about this language is it's malleability.

[Kil Tyme]

I'd rather have Bilbo played by a new name/actor for The Hobbit rather than some well-known actor. That Martin Freeman chap would fit the bill; not well known, at least to me, but he does have the face.

[Cagliostro]

I think Martin Freeman has the face for it, and some of the personality for it. I also think David Tennant has the personality for it, but only some of the look. His hair color is bit closer to Ian Holm's, anyway, not that they won't slap a wig on him anyway. But he's been in a Harry Potter movie, so maybe he should be ruled out. He did make an especially entertaining Doctor Who though, and showed he could tackle the drama as well as the comedy.