Ackerman goes from Red Dwarf to Blue-Bearded Dwarf

[Seb Patrick]

Not worth a front-page post, but might be of interest to some – Graham “Mr Ackerman” McTavish has been cast as Dwalin in the new Hobbit film.

Sylvester McCoy’s apparently going to be in it as well, but that hasn’t yet been confirmed in this batch of casting news…

Topic

[peas_and_corn]

I see he has bought a new glass eye.

[genericnerdyusername]

As much as I disliked the Ackerman character and thought it out of place in Red Dwarf, I have to say McTavish did well with the material he had.

But this isn’t an opportunity to slag off series 8 :)

[ChrisM]

And Aiden Turner is playing Kili apparently. I’d think he was too pretty to play a dwarf. Surely he’s more suitable to play a human or elf but… I suppose once you’ve slapped a big beard and a helmet on him…

Okay. I’ll buy that.

[Rad]

Not sure about casting. As soon as I heard Richard Armitage I thought ‘He’ll be Bard’. But Thorin… in the programmes I’ve seen him in he hasn’t shown anything of the volume and power of delivery I expect from Thorin. Though obviously I’ve only seen as a shady character in Spooks and a loser who wants to marry an overweight vicar fifteen years his senior in that disappointing Vicar of Dibley finale. Plus, I’m very confident that the filmmakers will get this right, so I’m not worried.

[redhead85]

Oh my gosh, Richard Armitage is GORGEOUS. I saw him when they filmed Spooks in the courtyard outside my office a few months ago. *sigh*

….sorry what were we talking about…?

[ChrisM]

He’s a dwarf. Snigger.

[Blisschick]

>Oh my gosh, Richard Armitage is GORGEOUS.

I second that!!! Third and fourth it, too.

[redhead85]

>Oh my gosh, Richard Armitage is GORGEOUS.

> I second that!!! Third and fourth it, too

You can just picture all of us ladies from the office, noses pressed up against the glass, watching as he filmed two floors below. *sigh* ;-)

[Somebody]

> And Aiden Turner is playing Kili apparently. I’d think he was too pretty to play a dwarf. Surely he’s more suitable to play a human or elf but… I suppose once you’ve slapped a big beard and a helmet on him…

And heavy latex makeup – apparently, they asked John Rhys Davies to come back for the Hobbit to play another dwarf (maybe as Gloin, Gimli’s father) and he told them “not on your life”, since the latex did his face & eyes in on LotR.

[Danodin]

> You can just picture all of us ladies from the office, noses pressed up against the glass, watching as he filmed two floors below. *sigh* ;-)

Women…

Though I bet he couldn’t concentrate on filming through looking up at your fiery gorgeousness…

[hummingbird]

It’s really not the sort of casting that I expected, at all. It’ll be interesting to see how it all turns out.
Martin Freeman is perfect, though.

[redhead85]

> Women… Though I bet he couldn’t concentrate on filming through looking up at your fiery gorgeousness…

Thanks, I wish! ^__^ He did clock us all at one point and gave us a grinning wave. He totally loves the attention, you can tell.

> Martin Freeman is perfect, though.

Oh most definitely. As soon as you read it, it’s almost as if you knew it was always going to happen. The sign of good casting!

[Ridley]

Ackerman seems to turn up in the strangest places. Like Highlander and Hulk vs Thor.

But what will this Freeman news, if anything, mean for new Sherlock?

[Ben Paddon]

Last I heard they were negotiating with the BBC to work out filing for Sherlock and The Hobbit that didn’t interrupt either production. That was a couple of months ago, though.

[ChrisM]

Yes, as far as I’m aware, Freeman will now be doing both. He put Sherlock as priority (and rightly too. I’m looking forward to the Hobbit but it’s good that he sticks to his prior commitments) and I believe they worked out the schedule around that.

[Danodin]

I’m sure they’ll be able to shoot at least one episode of Sherlock before Martin starts on The Hobbit in February. Then it’s a case of finding time to complete the series. I’m sure it’ll work out.

[Ben Paddon]

They’ll be shooting the lot, if what I hear is accurate.

[Somebody]

From Mark Gatiss’ Twit-thing:

http://twitter.com/Markgatiss/status/28420411212
Huge congratulations to the brilliant Martin Freeman on becoming Bilbo Baggins! No change to #Sherlock schedule, I’m glad to say.

[hummingbird]

If they move filming to the UK, as they’ve been threatening to, it would certainly help in that respect. Otherwise Freeman’s going to be racking up a hell of a lot of air miles.

[Fluffy Wok]

> Ackerman seems to turn up in the strangest places. Like Highlander and Hulk vs Thor.

Yeah, only got round to watching Rambo (4) the other day, he’s in that too. Crazyness

> Martin Freeman is perfect, though.

Yeah, much better than the first person I thought it was going to be that had me shouting “Travesty! He can’t be Bilbo, he’s God!” It turned out I had misheard the missus and Morgan Freeman wasn’t going to be the new Bilbo. It would have been a bit weird having to explain how when he turns Eleventy One he becomes white….

[redhead85]

> Martin Freeman is perfect, though.

> Yeah, much better than the first person I thought it was going to be that had me shouting “Travesty! He can’t be Bilbo, he’s God!” It turned out I had misheard the missus and Morgan Freeman wasn’t going to be the new Bilbo. It would have been a bit weird having to explain how when he turns Eleventy One he becomes white….

*rolls eyes* That’s cos you is deaf, love. :-P

[Danodin]

Though we now know the Doctor can officially, canonically become black, thanks to Clyde (courtesy of RTD…) asking him! Clyde saying ‘my hand’s…not white’ made me laugh too.

I like how RTD did more for Who canon in two 25 minute CBBC episodes than Moffat did in the whole of series 5! The Ian and Barbara line gave me chills… If they ever wanted a replacement for SJA they have it right there with those two, or maybe even Jo, who it was great to see. And Matt…for a split second he seemed to channel Pertwee in the scene with Jo, I’m not sure exactly what he did or whether I was just thinking of The Green Death.

Er, The Hobbit and stuff… Oh, it’s definitely being shot in New Zealand!! Fiiiinally they can get the heck on with it. Richard Armitage will make a fine Thorin IMO despite not being an obvious candidate for the Dwarf leader. He has a certain ‘heavy’ nature to his voice that will lend itself to rousing the Dwarves in battle. Seeing 13 Dwarves kick orc ass is going to be something to behold!

[Ben Paddon]

I like how RTD did more for Who canon in two 25 minute CBBC episodes than Moffat did in the whole of series 5!

Is that what we’re placing value on, now? “Contributions to existing canon” over storytelling?

[Danodin]

Yes.

[Author]

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