The Hobbit parts I, II and – presumably – III, are filled with familiar characters, and some who never appeared in the novel. They are played by performers both obscure and well-known. But there’s another cast of characters who are really running things down in The Shire. They do not, as far as we know, have hairy feet.
Peter Jackson (pic): A hero to his native New Zealand for bringing in so much filmmaking, and so many Oscars, the director likes to do things to excess – such as making a three-part cinematic landmark out of a three-part literary epic (The Lord Of The Rings) or squeezing three 2-hour, 40-minute features out of a tiny Tolkien novel. But he is also one of the more ambitious filmmakers on the planet, and one with a bit of a twist. Ever see Meet the Feebles? “Amused and nauseated” was how it left one critic.
