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"Peter Jackson has confirmed that Dean O&amp;#039;Gorman will replace Rob Kazinsky in his forthcoming adaptation of The Hobbit.  The Oscar-winning director announced via Facebook that the coveted role of Fili had been awarded to O&amp;#039;Gorman, a relative unknown recently seen in comedy drama series The Almighty Johnsons, following Kazinsky&amp;#039;s departure earlier this month.  The ex-Eastenders actor cited a &amp;quot;health issue&amp;quot; as the reason behind his exit from the J.R.R. Tolkien epic, which had already started production in New Zealand. Further elaborating on the casting news, Jackson stated in his online message: &amp;quot;Dean&amp;#039;s a terrific Kiwi actor, who I am thrilled to be working with. He&amp;#039;s recently been in an excellent TV series down here called The Almighty Johnsons, and I should let fans of that show know that our shooting schedule allows Dean to continue with a second series next year. Dean will be joining us next week.&amp;quot; He also revealed that Pushing Daisies actor Lee Pace had been cast as Elven King Thranduil, adding: &amp;quot;Casting these Tolkien stories is very difficult, especially the Elven characters, and Lee has always been our first choice for Thranduil.  &amp;quot;He&amp;#039;s going to be great. We loved his performance in a movie called The Fall a few years ago, and have been hoping to work with him since. When we were first discussing who would be right for Thranduil, Lee came into mind almost immediately.&amp;quot;  Part One of The Hobbit is due to hit cinemas in December 2012.  Watch Peter Jackson&amp;#039;s first video blog from the set of The Hobbit below:  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/the-hobbit/news/a317257/peter-jackson-recasts-fili-in-the-hobbit/>