Reports that Cate Blanchett and Orlando Bloom will reprise their Lord of the Rings roles in The Hobbit suggest Jackson's two-part production may be more epic than its source material
By BEN CHILD | THE GUARDIAN
In many ways, Peter Jackson has an opportunity that JRR Tolkien lacked when it comes to his two forthcoming films based on the author's fantasy tale The Hobbit. While the original architect of Middle-earth did revise his earlier book following the publication of the darker Lord of the Rings trilogy (at least enough to ensure readers would not be confused by differing approaches to the status of the ring that Bilbo Baggins finds beneath the misty mountains), there was not a lot he could do about The Hobbit's whimsical, breezy tone. While The Lord of the Rings is all ominous portent and epic adventure, the earlier book has a homely, fable-like quality that means its worth has often been overlooked in favour of the sequel.
Jackson, since he is operating in reverse, is able to take full control of The Hobbit's pitch and timbre to ensure it maintains consanguinity with its predecessor films. And according to recent reports, it seems that he's intending to do that by bringing back characters from The Lord of the Rings who might feasibly appear in the new film, even though they were not in the book. By feasible ... well, let's just say the New Zealand director seems to have a fairly loose understanding of the word.
