Heat vision has reported that casting for "The Hobbit" will begin this week. Peter Jackson's upcoming film will be holding wide auditions for all of the characters, except for Gandalf, who will, of course, be played by Ian McKellen.
Jackson said,"We're auditioning for every role,"apart from Ian McKellen who we obviously want to return as Gandalf. We are not really offering any roles to anybody until we've done a casting sweep". He also stated that they want to find the right people for the parts, not necessarily big names to draw people to the film.
Shooting is expected to being in April or May 2010.