"There are a few times in your career when you come across an actor who you know was born to play a role, but that was the case as soon as I met Martin," Jackson said.
Spooks actor Richard Armitage, 39 - who is scheduled to star in the upcoming film Captain America: The First Avenger - will play Thorin Oakenshield - leader of the dwarves. Other dwarves will be played by John Callen, Stephen Hunter, Mark Hadlow and Peter Hambleton.
In other developments it has been revealed that the location for filming may have to be moved from New Zealand, possibly to the UK. According to Jackson´s wife they "had people in the UK taking location photographs".
The two films which will make up The Hobbit will be released in December 2012 and December 2013.
