Kate Winslet will join Andy Serkis’ Middle-earth epic The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum in what has been described to Deadline by sources as the female lead, although the role has not been disclosed.
Serkis and Peter Jackson spent most of last year coaxing Winslet to appear in the film, which means uprooting her family to New Zealand to shoot her scenes in the film from late May through to October.
It’s a country she’s familiar with, having shot Jackson’s 1994 movie Heavenly Creatures there.
Oscar winner Winslet will join a cast that includes the return of Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins, Ian McKellen as Gandalf and Serkis as Gollum — roles the three have been associated with since Jackson directed them in 2001’s The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and the subsequent series of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit features based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s celebrated collection.
The new film follows Aragorn’s perilous quest to capture Gollum before the creature can reveal the Ring’s location to Sauron. The story, much of it developed from Tolkien’s footnotes, is set between The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring.
When I interviewed the Titanic star last year for her debut directorial feature Goodbye June, she mentioned she would probably be out of the country for several months this year but refused to disclose the reason why.
However, sources have told Deadline that the chunk of time spent out of the UK will be spent filming The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum. The casting has been rumored on some film blogs today. We’d been sitting on the news for a while but today can confirm the casting as legit.
Serkis has recently been in Los Angeles and New Zealand in pre-production for the film, which starts shooting in May with Serkis in the director’s chair. The Warner Bros production has been scripted by Philippa Boyens, Fran Walsh, Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou. Jackson, Boyens, Walsh and Zane Weiner are producing.
Winslet confirmed during our same Goodbye June interview that she there’s a “strong likelihood” of her starring in a second season of acclaimed HBO murder mystery Mare of Easttown. Winslet said she has had what she called “proper conversations” with Mare of Easttown writer and creator Brad Ingelsby and director Craig Zobel about bringing back her dogged detective.
She said that they’re hopeful of being in a position to shoot in Pennsylvania in 2027.
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