For a day last week–July 16 to be exact–the internet was aquiver with rumors (notably here and here) that Comic-Con would feature an announcement about who would play Bilbo in the Hobbit films. This was all based on rather tenuous speculations about who was coming to Comic-Con, and, I suspect, some wishful thinking.

Then, on July 17, Peter Jackson and others in the know squelched these rumors. As reported by Empire online, Peter said, “No, we won’t be announcing Bilbo for a little while. We’re starting to think about casting, but we’re knee-deep in the script right now. And when we do go to actors, they’re probably going to ask to see a script, so we’re powering ahead with getting the first draft done.” When Empire asked what his next project after The Lovely Bones will be, he replied, “I haven’t yet decided what I’ll be directing after that. At the moment we’re concentrating on writing a couple of little movies with Guillermo [Del Toro]. A couple of small films! (Laughs) And that’s going to take us another few months of writing to do. But we are developing a couple of projects which are potentially films that I’d direct for next year. Temeraire is still on the cards. But those are really taking a second place at the moment…”

This makes me wonder about the status of the second Tintin film, which, as far as I know, Peter is still slated to direct. Perhaps the studio wants to wait until the first film is released before absolutely committing to a second.

Anyway, the Bilbo non-story is one example of why I don’t post casting rumors on this blog.

Even without the prospect of a big announcement about Hobbit casting, though, yesterday I start feeling distinctly regretful about not going to Comic-Con this year. A year before, I had flown to San Diego, settled into my hotel, and gone to the Wednesday evening preview reserved for those of us with four-day passes. Now the event proper has started.

I thoroughly enjoyed the 2008 Comic-Con. Highlights included meeting and talking with John Howe, seeing Richard Taylor again, however briefly, participating on TheOneRing.net’s panel of speculations on The Hobbit, signing books and chatting with fans, wandering the halls, seeing the previews for Bolt and Up, and so on. I blogged about it here and here.

(As to the panel, I still think that my suggestion of Mark Ruffalo as Thorin was a good one. That’s a suggestion, mind you, not a rumor.)

In fact, the TORN people were kind enough to invite me to participate on their panel again this year. I felt I couldn’t justify the expense and time a second year in a row, especially since I so recently got back from a whirlwind trip to Europe. So I very reluctantly said no, though I hope to return to Comic-Con when promotion of The Hobbit begins in earnest.

For this year, though, I’ll be following the events from afar. Obviously TORN will be a key source of Hobbit-related news, and for more general coverage, here’s Variety’s index of its of Comic-Con stories. Even as I type, the TORN panel should be recently over, so I expect to be reading about the results very soon–and no doubt wishing I were in San Diego right now!

Thanks, by the way, to TORN for the real news–not rumor–that Hobbiton is being rebuilt so that the plants will be ready in time for principal photography. See photos and links here, here, and here. Seems like old times!

[July 29: TORN has just posted a three-part video record of its Comic-Con panel. It's a well-done half-hour condensation of what was originally an hour-long panel.]