Tobey Maguire Not Starring in The Hobbit (But He Is Interested)
Posted 12.16.09 by BrentJS
Producer Peter Jackson recently stated that a "casting sweep" was underway for the lead part in his production of The Hobbit, the prequel to The Lord of the Rings (LOTR). However, despite Jackson's comment that the LOTR movies are not "star-driven," a new rumor has been making headlines by linking one of Hollywood's most-successful franchise actors to the role of the adventurous Hobbit Bilbo Baggins.
Popular film site Latino Review reported on Monday that Tobey Maguire's (Brothers) recent comments about wanting to work with director Guillermo del Toro (Hellboy) referred to his involvement with The Hobbit.
Could Peter Parker be playing Bilbo Baggins?
I checked with agency sources and yep, it's true!
Apparently, we're in the early stages of talks between CAA and the producers of the Hobbit film for Tobey to topline the film as Bilbo Baggins!
The news quickly became a topic of blog posts and forum threads and eventually made its way back to Maguire, who responded on Tuesday that the rumor is false.
I have not met with del Toro. We don't have any near future plans. I don't know if something got misconstrued or miscommunicated but the source was not accurate at all.
Maguire actually added a little fuel to the rumor fire himself by saying that he thought there was no part to be had because James McAvoy had already landed the role. However, Maguire did say that he would be interested in working on The Hobbit, if a part were offered to him.
I love Guillermo del Toro and Peter Jackson, and I certainly wouldn't take myself out of the conversation ... if I was part of it. But I haven't read a script or talked to anybody about it.
The Hobbit is currently slated to begin shooting in the spring.