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With The Hobbit now well under way and ready to go out for production, parts are still being cast and the latest update is that rising star Saoirse Ronan has landed a role in Peter Jackson’s next epic venture. Her name has cropped up in relation to The Hobbit before but she had not heard anything from the casting directors. Now according to the chief casting director Ros Hubbard, Ronan is involved:

In an interview with IFTN, she said:

…they’ll have a great time. Saoirse’s family will go too, everyone is very close and very loving on those sorts of jobs. It’s not like typical studio movies at all.

So looks like she’s well on board but her late arrival is not a surprise due to the large scale and the length of production, all the parts will still need casting so some actors could still be coming in during filming. In regards to filming there has been another, slighter delay with an unexpected illness after Peter Jackson was committed to hospital with stomach pains to find out he had a perforated ulcer. He’s expected to make a full recovery and the film will be back on track.

The Hobbit is expected now to start shooting late next month with Martin Freeman in the lead as Bilbo Baggins with Andy Serkis, Cate Blanchett & Ian McKellen reprising their roles from the Lord of the Rings franchise, along with a whole host of actors including Richard Armitage, James Nesbitt, Sylvester McCoy among others.