Rumour: James McAvoy to play Bilbo Baggins?

According to the online rumour mill, Scottish actor James McAvoy is being considered for the role of a younger Bilbo Baggins in the upcoming movie adaptation of The Hobbit from Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro.

The names of Daniel Radcliffe and Jack Black have also been mentioned in relation to the role.

In the original movie trilogy, Bilbo Baggins was played by actor Ian Holm. And while Guillermo recently said in an online chat that there are still plans to use Ian Holm “in some fashion for sure”, he admitted that “the difficulty of the role will be better assessed after” the screenplays are completed.

McAvoy is no stranger to casting rumours, previously having been favourite to play Scotty in Star Trek XI.  That role eventually went to Simon Pegg.

Well known to sci-fi fans, McAvoy played Leto Atreides in Sci-Fi Channel’s Children of Dune and will soon appear alongside Angelina Jolie in Wanted.

Admittedly, the source on this is the Daily Express, a British newspaper which isn’t renowned for its journalistic reliability.  Nonetheless, sometimes these things turn out to be true.