Slowly but surely, new information and pictures have been released concerning the highly anticipated Peter Jackson film adaptation of The Hobbit.
This time, we get a photo op with three of the twelve dwarves that make up the “unexpected party” arriving at hobbit Bilbo Baggins’ house, convincing him to come with them on their epic journey to Lonely Mountain in order to kill Smaug the Dragon and reclaim their treasure.
The three dwarves in question are Dori, Ori, and Nori. These three had relativley minor roles in the book itself, but their characters were fleshed out in “The Quest of Erebor” a story told within Tolkien’s Unfinished Tales, a book which focuses on the events preceding The Hobbit. The roles will be played by Jed Brophy (Nori), Adam Brown (Ori) and Mark Hadlow (Dori).
From the looks of the picture, it seems that Peter Jackson is forgoing the monochromatic colored hoods that were used to separate the dwarves in the book version of The Hobbit, and is pursuing a slightly darker tone. It is very encouraging to see such distinct differences between the three, which helps to bring out a sense of personality in each. This will add depth to the characters and should make the movie more engaging.
Fortunately, Peter Jackson has the resources available to develop these characters and give each of them individual style. Most films don’t have the budget to do book adaptation’s justice, and secondary characters usually end up one-dimensional and bland. It seems that Mr. Jackson is intent on keeping this from happening, which is a great sign for fans of the novel.
Hopefully this is a taste of things to come and the rest of the party will be adorned with the same amount of detail and personality as these three distinct characters.
We still have to wait another eighteen months to see the final product, but it seems that Peter Jackson and the rest of The Hobbit movie production crew are taking the project very seriously and are making sure that their fans are kept happy.