Martin Freeman confirmed as Baggins in The Hobbit

It has been confirmed that Martin Freeman will star in The Hobbit. The annoucement was made by director Peter Jackson "there had only ever been one Bilbo Baggins for us" and he went on to say how ´incredibly proud´ he was of annoucing Freeman´s part in The Hobbit.

"There are a few times in your career when you come across an actor who you know was born to play a role, but that was the case as soon as I met Martin," Jackson said.

Spooks actor Richard Armitage, 39 - who is scheduled to star in the upcoming film Captain America: The First Avenger - will play Thorin Oakenshield - leader of the dwarves. Other dwarves will be played by John Callen, Stephen Hunter, Mark Hadlow and Peter Hambleton.

In other developments it has been revealed that the location for filming may have to be moved from New Zealand, possibly to the UK. According to Jackson´s wife they "had people in the UK taking location photographs".

The two films which will make up The Hobbit will be released in December 2012 and December 2013.