Comic Book Resources
Kevin Melrose
July 21, 2011

Although The Hobbit won’t have a presence at Comic-Con International in San Diego, director Peter Jackson offered some consolation last night in the form of a third production video.

“New Line and Warner Bros were very happy to support a presentation, but I declined, simply because I felt it was too early,” he wrote on his Facebook page. “There’s so much more of the films still to shoot. I just wanted to get that out there, because I’ve seen various references to the possibility of something Hobbity at Comic Con. Hate to disappoint anyone. But something tells me we will be there in force next year.”

Jackson followed that post with video from the first shooting block for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, with footage of Martin Freeman and Andy Serkis as Bilbo Baggins and Gollum, and a lengthy behind-the-scenes look at the Company of Dwarves.

“Thirteen Dwarves is one of the reasons why I dreaded The Hobbit, and why I really didn’t think I would make it for such a long time,” the director confesses. “But the irony is it’s turned out to be one of the joys of the film.”

While the video is definitely Dwarf-focused, it also features appearances by Ian McKellen, Hugo Weaving, Cate Blanchett and a couple of other actors I won’t spoil here.

In The Hobbit, Martin Freeman and Ian McKellen lead an ensemble cast that includes Richard Armitage, Jed Brophy, Adam Brown, John Callen, Stephen Fry, Ryan Gage, Mark Hadlow, Peter Hambleton, Stephen Hunter, William Kircher, Sylvester McCoy, Bret McKenzie, Graham McTavish, Mike Mizrahi, James Nesbitt, Dean O’Gorman, Lee Pace, Mikael Persbrandt, Conan Stevens, Ken Stott, Jeffrey Thomas, Aidan Turner, Luke Evans, Benedict Cumberbatch, Evangeline Lilly, Barry Humphries, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Elijah Wood and Andy Serkis.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey opens on Dec. 14, 2012, and The Hobbit: There and Back Again on Dec. 13, 2013.