British polymath Stephen Fry will play The Master Of Laketown in the upcoming Sir Peter Jackson-directed Hobbit movies.
The master is described as a deceptive and greedy but smart man who
serves as the mayor of the town closest to the Lonely Mountain when
Bilbo Baggins and his group arrives.
Jackson said: “In addition to his writing skills, [Fry is] a terrific actor and will
create a very memorable Master for us.”
“I’ve known Stephen for several years, and we’re developing a Dambusters movie together,
Jackson also announced the master’s conniving servant, Alfrid, would be played by Ryan Gage, an actor in the 2007 film Outlaw.
“Ryan is a great young actor who we originally cast in a small role, but we liked him so much, we promoted him to the much larger Alfrid part,” said Sir Peter, who initially cast Gage as Drogo Baggins.
Conan Stevens from American medieval fantasy television programme Game of Thrones, who stands 2.13m tall, will play an Orc called Azog.
Other stars starring in The Hobbit include Sir Ian Holm as the
older Bilbo Baggins, Sir Ian McKellen as Gandalf, Andy Serkis as
Gollum, and Orlando Bloom as Legolas.
Elijah Wood is reprising his role as Frodo Baggins,
even though the character did not appear in J R R Tolkien’s book of The
Hobbit, which is set 60 years before the trilogy.
The first Hobbit movie is set for release in December 2012 and the second for December 2013.
The actors and some of the film crew would take a break in filming next
month to get some editing and visual effects work done, he said.
“As
we near the end of our first shooting block we are looking at
characters featuring in sequences that take place a little later in the
story.”
