What 28 actors from The Hobbit looked like without makeup and graphics (26 photos)

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Ian McKellen – Gandalf





Despite the fact that Ian McKellen loved The Lord of the Rings and Gandalf, The Hobbit did not bring him much pleasure because he often filmed scenes with the dwarves alone. If in The Lord of the Rings Peter Jackson used forced perspective, then in The Hobbit he had to film the dwarf actors separately from Ian McKellen. While filming The Desolation of Smaug, McKellen was sitting alone in a very small room when he said, "This is not why I became an actor!" The microphone was still on, so the entire crew heard him, and after that, various gifts were put in his trailer to cheer him up.

Hugo Weaving - Elrond



The most frequently appearing actor in the Middle-earth films is Ian McKellen, who played Gandalf in all six films of the two trilogies The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. No one else had such a record, and then Ian was followed by Hugo Weaving and Orlando Bloom, who played Elrond and Legolas in five films, although they were absent from different parts of The Hobbit: Weaving did not play in The Desolation of Smaug, and Bloom - in An Unexpected Journey

Andy Serkis - Gollum





Andy Serkis has only ten minutes of running time in An Unexpected Journey. However, even during this time, he managed to stand out from the rest. In his scene, he confronted a goblin, played by an actor with an animatronic head and covered in makeup. Andy got so into his role that he smashed all the electronic part of the animatronics out of rage. After Serkis' work was completed, he became the second director of the film and took on responsibilities for the landscape scenes and lighting the dwarves.

Richard Armitage - Thorin Oakenshield



In "The Lord of the Rings", almost all the actors wore wigs - an exception was made only for Peter Jackson's son, who played a cameo and unnoticeable role. His hair looked so natural in the film that Jackson didn't put a wig on him. It was the same in The Hobbit, with one exception - Richard Armitage's wig, who played Thorin Oakenshield, was made from his own hair.

Ken Stott - Balin



Ken Stott, who played Balin, went into theater after graduating from the Academy of Dramatic Arts and worked there for three years before starting to act in TV series and films. Stott hasn't had a big career in film, but he's managed to put together a decent filmography in TV series, including Rebus: The Hanging Garden, An Inspector Calls, Vice, and Messiah.

James Nesbitt - Bofur



James Nesbitt's Northern Irish accent is part of a pretty interesting story. His co-stars, Stephen Hunter and William Kircher, who played Bombur and Befur respectively, learned Northern Irish accents specifically for James, so that their speech would not differ from Nesbitt's. However, it was in vain, because Stephen only had one line, and William spoke in the language of the dwarves, in which the accent was not recognizable.

Peter Hambleton - Gloin



Gloin was played by the little-known actor Peter Hambleton, who, although he began his career in 1984, has played no more than thirty roles since then. In big cinema, he is known only for the made-up Gloin in "The Hobbit", and on the small screen - for the mini-series "Plot Twist". However, Peter is widely known in the theater world.

Mark Hadlow – Dory



In one of the episodes, the dwarves fall into the clutches of three huge trolls, but they are saved by Gandalf, who appears in time and splits an equally huge boulder. It is noteworthy that these three trolls were voiced and played in motion capture suits by the same actors who played the dwarves: Peter Hambleton as Gloin, William Kircher as Bifur and Mark Hadlow, who played Dory.

Jed Brophy - Nori



Jed Brophy has a family history of appearing in Middle-earth, having first worked with Peter Jackson on The Lord of the Rings, and not just alone, but with his son Sadwyn Brophy. In The Lord of the Rings, Jed appeared in various orc makeup, and Sadwyn played a boy named Eldarion, who appeared in The Return of the King.

Aidan Turner as Keely



When Peter Jackson was just beginning his first attempts at making The Lord of the Rings, he clashed with producer Harvey Weinstein, who almost turned the trilogy into a duology. Peter escaped in time and kept his idea of ​​making three films - one for each book. With The Hobbit, he planned to make two films to better develop the story told in only one book, but the studio forced him to rewrite the script and make three films. And because of this, the storyline connecting Kili, Tauriel and Legolas was seriously changed. Initially, Jackson expected that he would show the love story of Kili and Tauriel, and Legolas would have only platonic feelings for her, which would not interfere with the dwarf and the elf. However, along with the requirement to make three films, the studio also set another condition - to make a love triangle, adding Legolas to the relationship between Tauriel and Kili. Although Jackson did it, he and Evangeline Lilly revealed that they hated this storyline.

Dean O'Gorman - Philly



Interestingly, Dean O'Gorman was not the first actor cast as Philly. Peter Jackson initially cast Robert Kazinsky, who was known for his work on the series "EastEnders", and Robert even managed to work on the first film for a month, but then he left the production, and Jackson cast O'Gorman instead.

Graham McTavish – Dwalin



Soon after the screening of The Battle of the Five Armies, Graham McTavish, who took on the role of Dwalin, admitted that the final film of the trilogy is not at all what Peter Jackson filmed. Due to studio interference, according to McTavish, many of Jackson's ideas were changed, so the only correct film is the director's cut.

John Callin – Oin



Before landing the role of Oin, John Callin also auditioned for two other characters: Radagast and Smaug. Radagast eventually went to Sylvester McCoy, while Smaug was voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch, whose dragon in The Hobbit isn't his only voice acting credit, as he also voices Dormammu in Doctor Strange.

Stephen Hunter – Bombur



In one of the scenes, Bombur caught a small egg in his mouth. Interestingly, this happened in the first take. After that, Peter Jackson decided to shoot a few more takes, but in none of them was Stephen Hunter able to catch the egg again. And Stephen distinguished himself not only in this. He became the only actor who wore an “extreme” thick suit. The actors who played the hobbits had to wear special suits that made them thicker, but Hunter’s was the largest and heaviest.

Adam Brown – Ori



In addition to Martin Freeman, several other actors were also considered for the role of Bilbo Baggins, including James McAvoy, Daniel Radcliffe, Eddie Redmayne, Tobey Maguire and Adam Brody. Only one of them, Adam, eventually appeared in The Hobbit, but, of course, not as Bilbo. Peter Jackson himself said that he never seriously considered anyone except Freeman, but Martin could not accept the offer for a long time because he was busy with other work. For Freeman's sake, Jackson even moved the filming schedule.

William Kircher – Bifur



William Kircher wanted to become an actor so much that when he entered drama school at the age of 16, he said he was actually 18. The truth never came out, so after two years, Kircher graduated and soon began acting. His first big job was the series "Shark in the Park", in which he starred in 28 episodes. After "The Hobbit", Kircher left his acting career and concentrated on producing and staging plays.

Christopher Lee - Saruman



Christopher Lee and Ian Holm were the only actors who filmed all of their scenes in the studio because their age and health prevented them from flying to New Zealand. Ultimately, The Battle of the Five Armies was Christopher Lee's last film.

Sylvester McCoy as Radagast



Peter Jackson had become very close to many of the actors in The Lord of the Rings, and he couldn't continue working with people he didn't know, so he called Elijah Wood, Christopher Lee, Orlando Bloom, and Cate Blanchett back, even though their characters weren't supposed to be in The Hobbit. Interestingly, Radagast was also not in the book, but Jackson added him anyway for the sake of Sylvester McCoy, who was originally considered for the role of Frodo in The Lord of the Rings. When Guillermo del Toro was still directing The Hobbit, he cast Sylvester as Radagast, and Jackson did not change that when he came on board because he agreed with the casting.

Barry Humphries - The High Goblin



There are a lot of older actors in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, but in the first trilogy there was only one actor who was born before J. R. R. R. Tolkien wrote his books. Christopher Lee was 15 when Tolkien published The Hobbit. Jackson's second trilogy brought the number of actors to three, joining Christopher alongside Ian Holm and Barry Humphries, who was born in 1934, three years before The Hobbit was released.

Lee Pace as Thranduil



The most ardent fans of various franchises often camp out in front of movie theaters and panels like Comic Con to get in line days before a film premieres or events begin. This was the case at Comic Con, where The Hobbit creators were scheduled to unveil the final film in the trilogy. Hundreds of people set up camp and literally began to live there. And suddenly, in the middle of the night, Andy Serkis and Lee Pace, who played Thranduil, showed up. They woke up the fans and, to please them, started signing autographs and taking pictures with them. All this lasted for several hours, and Lee Pace was so tired that he passed out and spent some time on one of the mattresses.

Orlando Bloom - Legolas



It is noteworthy that Orlando Bloom became the only elven actor from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit who did not become part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Cate Blanchett, who played Galadriel, appeared in a villainous role in Thor: Ragnarok. Evangeline Lilly played Hope van Dyne in the Ant-Man trilogy. Lee Pace played the villainous Ronan in Guardians of the Galaxy. Hugo Weaving played the Red Skull in Captain America: The First Avenger. And Liv Tyler appeared as Betty Ross in The Incredible Hulk. Only Orlando Bloom remains, but he still has plenty of time to fix that.

Evangeline Lilly – Tauriel



Few people know, but after the series "Lost" Evangeline Lilly was seriously going to leave her acting career in the past. And she really did it, but right after that Shawn Levy appeared, who offered her a role in "Real Steel", and Evangeline realized that such a chance could not be missed. Soon Peter Jackson appeared, who after "The Lord of the Rings" promised that he would work with Lilly one day, and a few years later he wrote the role of Tauriel especially for her

Mikael Persbrandt - Beorn



Beorn was played by Swedish actor Mikael Persbrandt, who has been included in the lists of the most handsome Swedish actors many times. His first acting work took place in 1984 at the Royal Dramatic Theatre, and in 1992 he debuted on the big screen and soon became famous for his role as Gunvald Larsson in the "Beck" film series, which ended only in 2016.

Manu Bennett – Azog the Defiler



Unlike The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit has a real villain with whom the main characters interact. While Saruman and Sauron spent the entire time in their towers, Azog entered the battle with Thorin at the end of the last film. But Peter Jackson did not initially plan to add Azog as the main antagonist. In the books, Azog was gone long before the events of the first film, but due to the studio executives, he still had to be added and major adjustments had to be made to the script

Billy Connolly – Dain Ironfoot



If you look closely at Dain Ironfoot in the third film, you'll notice that he looks different from everyone else. This is because Dain was recreated using CGI. Although Billy Connolly was originally cast as the role, he was unable to wear the make-up, prosthetics, and armor, or swing the hammer, due to his poor health, so he simply gave Peter Jackson permission to use his likeness and then voiced Dain.

Conan Stevens, Lawrence Macor, and John Tui as Bolg



Bolg appears in all three Hobbit films, but is played by different actors in each. In An Unexpected Journey, the role went to Conan Stevens, who played the Mountain in the first season of Game of Thrones. The second film featured the already well-known Lawrence Makor, who fans of The Lord of the Rings know from Lurtz in The Fellowship of the Ring, as well as the Witch King of Angmar and Gothmog in The Return of the King. But Makor didn't stay long either, and in The Battle of the Five Armies, he was replaced by the little-known John Tui.