Fans of The Lord of the Rings may remember a certain handsome, dark-haired elven extra who was present at the Council of Elrond. Some extremely serious fans may even refer to him as Figwit (Frodo Is Great…Who Is That?), though his official title in the credits of The Return of the King was “Elf Escort.”
Bret McKenzie, the man behind the phenomenon, will be featured as the elf “Lindir” in The Hobbit films. “I’ve got a proper name this time,” McKenzie said to Empire Magazine. “In the book he was a musical elf. This time, if I make the edit, I’ll speak in Elvish. But I don’t sing.” This may come as a surprise to fans of McKenzie’s band, Flight Of The Conchords, one of whom is Ian McKellen. According to McKenzie, “He and I had a good time on set, coming up with ideas for Hobbit: The Musical.” McKenzie already completed his scenes for The Hobbit earlier this year, and said “it was great to get my pointy ears back on.”
Benedict Cumberbatch, the actor playing the role of Smaug the dragon, won’t film his part in The Hobbit until January. He told Collider.com that he “can’t wait,” and that he has “already started working out and doing various movement exercises” to prepare for the role. It may sound strange, since what we will eventually see on screen will be, well, a dragon and not a six foot tall Englishman. But as Cumberbatch explains, “I mean I’m physicalizing him as a dragon I’m not just doing the voiceover, so it’ll be a physical role which I’m no stranger to.”
