New production photos of Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman, Orlando Bloom, Andy Serkis, and, of course, Peter Jackson

Check out these awesome new behind-the-scenes images! Some of them are unsourced, and very well could be from a new production video coming out in a few months? What do think? Leave a comment!

UPDATE: The photos of Benedict Cumberbatch doing motion capture for Smaug comes from this video, apparently from the bonus material from the Extended Edition of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. 

Richard Armitage, James Nesbitt, and Andy Serkis. . . again!

These three actors have been very busy. This is the fifth video I've posted that has concerned them. In this particular interview, they discuss how The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug will be much darker in tone and story line than The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. This is actually another part of the interview done by Yahoo! Movies UK & Ireland, hence the topic overlap with the previous post. 

Richard Armitage, James Nesbitt, and Andy Serkis 

Once again, these three actors are interviewed, this time by HeyUGuys.co.uk. This time, they all three tell us the The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug will be darker and less lighthearted than An Unexpected Journey. There will be more character development from Thorin Oakenshield, who has not yet made his last err in judgement, and there will also be quite more horrific creatures than the trolls or even the goblin king, not the least of whom is Smaug, and the terrors within Dol Guldur. . . 

Learn more about Smaug and why there will be three films

In the first video, Andy Serkis, Richard Armitage, James Nesbitt discuss Benedict Cumberbatch and his role as Smaug. In the second video, the same three cast members are interviewed once again and asked about the length of the movies. Enjoy!

Andy Serkis interviews James Nesbitt and Richard Armitage

I found this interview very interesting. The actors tell about their approach to the movie and their roles and also give their opinions of Peter Jackson as a directer and as a person. 

CraveOnlineVideo interviews Martin Freeman!
CraveOnline, an Australian DVD and Blu-ray retailer, and Martin Freeman, the star of The Hobbit, Sherlock, and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, discuss Freeman's personal history with the works of J.R.R. Tolkien  how the ending of the first movie changed after the third film was announced, Benedict Cumberbatch and his role as Smaug, and Andy Serkis as 2nd Unit Director, all in five minutes. 

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey has received an early Oscar. Simon Clutterbuck, Richard Dorling, and James Jacobs of Weta Digital were recognized on Saturday night for their outstanding performance in the creation of Andy Serkis' character, Gollum. As a reward for the excellent and very hard work of Weta Digital, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey has received an early Oscar for technology and science. 

Comicbookmovie.com scanned a few behind the scenes photos of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey from Brian Sibley's tie-in book The Official Movie Guide. They include Cate Blanchett as Galadriel, Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins, a group of goblins, Nori and Bofur, Andy Serkis in his motion-capture attire, Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield, and a group photo of all the dwarves draped in spider-webs, obviously from their entanglement in Mirkwood. I fully acknowledge that these are scans of a book that were on another website, but I will post them nonetheless, but beware, they contain spoilers.

Now here is a man who can really produce an awesome voice. No wonder he was chosen to play the character of Gollum. Below you can watch a short clip from ITN.co.uk in which Andy Serkis reads an excerpt from The Hobbit and discusses the challenges of once again getting ready to play the character of Gollum.

Golloum in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Perhaps the most anticipated character in the upcoming Hobbit movies is Gollum (played by Andy Serkis), the most recognized character from The Lord of the Rings.

Gollum in The Lord of the Rings

With all the new CGI (Computer-Generated Imagery) technology, Gollum should and will look more life-like and real than ever before. The visual effect artists of The Hobbit even made Gollum look younger than he was in The Lord of the Rings. Compare the two images and see for yourself. Above and below are two images of Gollum just recently released. 

Martin Freeman and Andy Serkis

Here is an interview of Andy Serkis (Gollum) and Martin Freeman (Bilbo Baggins) at the San Diego Comic Con. Enjoy!

The San Diego Comic Con stars today, and will continue for the next four days. Peter Jackson (director), Ian McKellen (Gandalf), Richard Armitage (Thorin Oakenshield), Martin Freeman (Bilbo Baggins), and Andy Serkis (Gollum and 2nd Unit Director) are all going to be present at the international event, which expects 125,000 attendees.