January 28, 2011 
>Saorise Ronan (Atonement, Hanna) has reportedly been cast in Peter Jackson’s long-delayed adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit.
Although Ronan had long been rumoured to be involved in the project, it was confirmed by casting director Ros Hubbard in an interview with IFTN.
Interestingly, Ronan denied being offered a role in The Hobbit only last week. Of course, we’ve all heard that one before…
Ronan previously worked with Peter Jackson in The Lovely Bones. She is expected to play Itaril in The Hobbit.
The Hobbit is a co-production between Warner Bros and MGM through New Line Cinema. Filming has been temporarily delayed (Jackson recently underwent surgery for a perforated ulcer) but the US release date for Part One of the two-parter remains set for December 2012.
Discuss: Regarding Jackson’s ulcer – is this project doomed?
>No it's not doomed. A project such as this takes a long time to bring to fruition. Happy at Saorise being cast – it's fab to see great young actresses coming through who can actually act and carry movies- enough of very overrated oldies such as Katherine Heigl & Jennifer Aniston etc etc. Their time has ended and their big fat paychecks aren't deserved. I'm really looking forward to this movie.